More flats and commercial units coming to city centre

Plans for more city centre flats and commercial units have been given the go-ahead.

A six-storey block consisting of affordable flats and commercial units will replace a small car park at the lower end of the Urban Village development between The Strand and High Street in Swansea.

A ship container-style scheme for businesses will be built alongside on a grassy area by Kings Lane, directly behind the Basekamp cafe. The existing multi-storey car park nearby will remain in place.

The project by Coastal Housing Group, which has developed the mixed-use Urban Village, could one day be followed by more flats, commercial units and a communal garden the other side of Kings Lane.

Dingy

The aim of regenerating this area has been to revive a previously unwelcoming part of the city characterised by tired-looking buildings, dingy alleyways and little in the way of vibrancy. This is supported by planning policy, according to a council planning officer report, which said the central area “needs a vibrant mix and right balance of leisure, culture, retail, office and residential uses with high quality buildings and public spaces”.

The officer report also said the majority of people living in Strand Court and Court Mews – the two closest blocks to where the new flats will be built – were opposed to the plans. But it said the main outlook from the existing flats faced east and west rather than to the north where the new block will be, meaning that it wouldn’t cause them harm.

Cycle storage

People living in the new block, which will have 15 one and two-bedroom flats, will have dedicated cycle storage and a bin store within the Urban Village while commercial tenants will be required to make their own waste disposal arrangements.

The officer report said concerns about how surface water would be managed have now been addressed – and there is a planning condition that it can’t be discharged into the main sewer.

The scheme will also include some new plants and shrubs and bird and bat boxes. At the other end of the city centre, council officers are considering a pre-application enquiry by Coastal Housing to convert a former office block on The Kingsway, near the Coppergate student development, into 48 flats.