80 homes plan for Penllergaer observatory civic centre site

Staff at the civic centre have already been relocated

Up to 80 homes and a village green landscaped around a historic observatory are among plans for a former civic centre site in Swansea.

Enzo's Homes wants to build a mix of two to five-bedroom homes at the former council site in Penllergaer.

The land houses an observatory where photographer John Dillwyn Llewelyn took some of the first images of the moon.

If approved, work will start after Penllergaer Civic Centre is demolished.

The observatory has since been restored

Swansea council sold the land to the company last year as part of a review of its buildings ownership.

Two of the five-bedroom homes planned would replicate the appearance of the mansion house where Llewelyn, who was also a renowned botanist, once lived with this family.

He had the equatorial observatory built on the estate as a 16th birthday present for his daughter, Thereza, in 1851 and it was there the pair took one of the first photographs of the moon.

Staff have already moved out of the former Penllergaer Civic Centre building, which was first opened in 1982 for the former Lliw Valley Borough Council.