Swansea‘s £3m wheeled sports drive has hit its first real bumps: two planned pumptracks are on hold, and the council admits it still cannot find a home for a regional skatepark, calling the search “a significant issue”.
The admissions come in Swansea Council‘s quarterly performance report, going before Cabinet on Wednesday (16 September).
There is plenty rolling forward. The BMX-focused park at the Elba sports complex in Gowerton is now out to tender, the report confirms.
Tenders will follow for new facilities at Ynystawe, Coed Gwilym Park in Clydach, Coed Bach Park in Pontarddulais and SA1, where a pump track was promised for the waterfront’s delayed second park.
They would join the programme’s flagship, the street plaza at Victoria Park, hailed by riders as “the jewel in the crown” when it opened this summer.
Upgraded parks at the Phoenix Centre in Townhill and Mynydd Newydd in Penlan opened at the same time, part of the council’s aim of putting most residents within two miles of somewhere to skate or ride.
Drainage costs stall Melin Mynach and Clyne pumptracks
But the pumptracks planned for Melin Mynach in Gorseinon and Clyne Valley are both on hold.
The sticking point is drainage. Costs for the sustainable drainage systems the sites would need, the legally required measures that stop new hard surfaces flooding the land around them, are still being reviewed by the council’s own cost surveyors, the report says.
The pause does not affect the Melin Mynach skatepark itself, which was upgraded earlier in the programme and praised by riders. The stalled project is the separate junior pumptrack planned alongside it.
No site, no timeline for the regional skatepark
The bigger admission is the regional skatepark. A suitable and available site “is still yet to be identified and agreed”, the report says, adding: “This is becoming a significant issue.”
The regional facility has never featured among the sites opened or sent to tender, and the report gives no timeline for finding it a home.
There is a smaller loose end too: official opening events for the three parks completed this summer are “yet to be agreed”, months after riders started using them.
The programme is paid for through ward budgets, the council’s Community Investment Fund, contributions from town and community councils and Welsh Government active travel money.
Elsewhere in Wednesday’s papers, the pressure on outdoor spaces shows up in the budget report: £75,000 has been set aside from the council’s contingency fund to underwrite play area repairs, blamed on increased vandalism and arson.
Cabinet will consider the performance report on Wednesday, alongside the new Public Spaces Protection Order and its £75 fines for dangerous e-bike riding.
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