Bike grant helping to save tree-lined street in Swansea

A Swansea street is being saved from losing its tree-lined character thanks to a multi-million pound investment to boost cycling in the city.

Swansea Council received more than £5.1 million in the summer last year to develop new Active Travel cycle routes in the city.

In total, nine kilometres of new cycle track are proposed across the city.

One of the routes is along Mayals Road – a tree lined street and a main route between the seafront and the Gower AONB.

A recent tree survey of Mayals Road has highlighted 19 trees including five mature Ash trees which are either diseased or dying and are being felled to prevent them from collapsing.

The Council has been felling Ash trees for the last two years after surveys found the majority of the trees in the city are suffering from the tree-killing disease known as Ash Dieback.

Mark Thomas, Cabinet Member for Environment Enhancement & Infrastructure Management, said: “Our parks teams have been busy for a number of years removing diseased trees across the city and in many cases unfortunately, there is no funding to replant the trees.

“Thankfully, the Welsh Government Active Travel funding programme enables us to replant trees where new cycle routes are being developed.

“Mayals Road is now part of our ever-increasing cycle infrastructure programme and so we can use some of the funding secured in 2020 to carry out a replanting programme and ensure the road is not affected by the removal of the affected trees.

“In fact, we are planting twice as many as we are removing so the street will feature more trees than it originally did.”

To find out more about the latest Active Travel schemes in Swansea visit https://www.swansea.gov.uk/activetravelschemes

To find out more about how you can enjoy cycling in Swansea and plot new routes to enjoy visit Swansea Bayways here: https://swanseabayways.co.uk