LANDORE: Diggers move in at park and ride as work starts on Swansea’s gondola — but parking is now tighter

Construction crews are on site at Landore Park and Ride building the base station for the £49m Skyline cable car — and drivers are being warned that parking spaces have been cut while the work goes on.

Kit Peters
4 Min Read
Diggers and contractor cabins on a fenced-off section of Landore Park & Ride car park, with the tree-covered slope of Kilvey Hill rising behind.
Works underway at Landore Park & Ride, where the base station of the new gondola will be built, with Kilvey Hill behind. (Image: Skyline Swansea / Facebook)

Diggers have moved onto Landore Park and Ride as work begins on the base station for Swansea’s new gondola.

The site will become the bottom of the £49m Skyline Swansea cable car, which will carry passengers up Kilvey Hill to a luge track, zip lines and a restaurant at the top.

Skyline said its teams are now on site preparing the area, with the former bus terminal taken down and the bus stop moved by the council.

Drivers will see more hoardings and fencing going up around the work site, which the company said is to keep the public and workers safe.

The park and ride remains open, but the company warned that the number of spaces has been reduced while the work is carried out.

It is the latest visible step in a project that has been years in the making — and one that has split opinion across the city.

Earthworks began on Swansea‘s Kilvey Hill earlier this year, clearing a strip of woodland to make way for the cable car line.

The felling left the hill’s much-loved Green Man sculpture standing alone amid the cleared trees, before volunteers returned him to the woods this week.

The development has drawn sustained opposition from some residents and campaigners, who argue the hill should be left as open green space.

Protest activity on the hill earlier this year led South Wales Police to warn demonstrators that action would follow anyone breaking the law.

Supporters, including the council, say the attraction will bring jobs and visitors to the east side of the city.

What it means for parking

The reduced parking comes as the council looks at moving the park and ride altogether.

In May, it secured funding for a design study to relocate the site to Alamein Road, an industrial estate just opposite the Swansea.com Stadium.

That move would free up the current Landore site for the gondola base station and any associated development.

For now, the company says access to the park and ride is unaffected, but anyone using it should expect fewer spaces than usual while the work continues.

Skyline has not given a date for when the base station work is due to be finished.

Author

Kit Peters

Kit Peters is a journalist and the editor of Swansea Bay News, covering Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire since 2020.


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Kit Peters is a journalist and the editor of Swansea Bay News, covering Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire since 2020.
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