Swansea: Work on controversial Mumbles skate park begins

Young people watch as the work gets under way

Work on a city's controversial new skate park is finally under way.

After years of uncertainty due to legal battles and heated debates, contractors have started work on Mumbles skate park in Swansea.

Swansea council gave the go-ahead in February 2020, but concerns were raised about the location and the council's original decision to transfer the land to the community council was quashed.

The project is expected to cost more than twice the original tender.

The 2018 tender was for £198,825, with the project now expected to cost more than £400,000, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

An artist’s impression of the new skate park

Councillor Carrie Townsend Jones, chairwoman of Mumbles community council, said: "The vast majority of people are looking forward to it. The kids - they're probably teenagers now - are just so pleased."

Asked if she could have imagined it would take so long to get spades in the ground, she said: "No, at that point we thought we would have it up and running in a year."

It is due to open early in 2023.

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After its initial approval of the plans, Swansea council received two petitions and 868 expressions of support, and two objection petitions and 65 expressions of opposition.

A review of other potential sites in Mumbles was commissioned before the planning authority's cabinet agreed to transfer the land to the community council.

Contractors are on site at Llwynderw, on the Swansea seafront

However, that decision was challenged by a group of objectors through a judicial review.

A judge went on to quash the land transfer decision after the council accepted that, prior to the decision being made, it did not publish its intention to dispose of the land for two weeks in a local newspaper.

A court document also said the council accepted that its decision did not comply with the 1972 Local Government Act.

Cabinet went through the land transfer decision process again, and this time there was no legal challenge.

Jason Williams, chairman of Mumbles Skatepark Association, which has been lobbying and fund-raising for the project, said: "Community support has been phenomenal and the new skate park will be a fantastic asset to the community."