Pier owners seek five-year extension for redevelopment plans

The owners of a pier need more time to build two new pavilions and refurbish the former lifeboat house to create a pop-up restaurant.

Swansea Council gave family-owned pier company Amusement Equipment Company Ltd planning permission for the Mumbles Pier scheme in 2021 subject to conditions.

The project also involves replacing the bridge leading from the pier to the  lifeboat house, which was replaced by a new one at the end of the pier in 2014.

One of the stipulations was that work needed to start within five years and because it hasn’t the company has applied to Swansea Council to push back the start date by a further five years.

The owners also expect an extension can allow them to resolve any outstanding planning conditions. How to accommodate kittiwakes on new nesting ledges on the Grade II-listed structure has been one of the points of discussion. Environment body Natural Resources Wales has previously said Mumbles Pier was one of the largest and most important nesting sites for the birds in Wales.

The 255m-long pier was built in 1898 and the adjacent lifeboat house added in 1922. The pier, which was listed in 1991, originally had two pavilion buildings either side of the walkway near the bridge leading to the lifeboat house. The two new ones are proposed for retail and cafe use.

In 2014 a new £11m lifeboat house and slipway were built by search and rescue charity the RNLI at the end of the pier and the redundant one was acquired by Amusement Equipment Company Ltd. There is said to be potential for boat trips from the old lifeboat house slipway.

Swansea Council’s planning department welcomed the planned public re-use of the lifeboat house when it approved the scheme in 2021.

“Many of the similar period lifeboat houses at Tenby and St Davids which also became redundant with the introduction of the larger Tamar-class lifeboat are listed structures that have been converted to private homes,” it said in a decision report.

Lifeboat base

The new RNLI lifeboat base at Mumbles Pier hasn’t housed the Tamar-class lifeboat for more than three years after a structural engineer, according to the RNLI, identified issues with the pier structure. The vessel is on a swing mooring at sea instead.

The pier is closed to the public part-way down. Amusement Equipment Company Ltd restored sections of it several years ago and plans to complete the work. Meanwhile it also has planning consent for flats along the nearby foreshore, a new boardwalk and a headland hotel.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has contacted the company but it had not responded at the time of publication.