{"id":445124,"date":"2025-09-23T06:30:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T06:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/445124\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T06:30:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T06:30:21","slug":"major-riverside-housing-development-takes-a-step-forward-in-this-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/445124\/","title":{"rendered":"Major riverside housing development takes a step forward in this city"},"content":{"rendered":"

A railway once terminated there and now there are plans for a major transformationLand on the east bank of the River Tawe, St Thomas, where a housing and regeneration scheme is being taken forward (Image: Richard Youle )<\/p>\n

Proposals to transform a large patch of riverside land into a housing complex with communal and commercial space have taken a step forward in Swansea<\/a>. There would be 120 flats in three and six-storey blocks and 38 houses at the former St Thomas<\/a> railway station site, just north of the Tawe bridges.<\/p>\n

Half of the 158 properties would be classed as affordable. The scheme could also include steps leading down to the River Tawe, a pontoon, improved pedestrian links and a future pedestrian and cycle bridge west across the river.<\/p>\n

Swansea Council\u2019s cabinet has approved an early stage of the project, which is being taken forward by a regeneration company called Urban Splash and housebuilder Lovell. The council<\/a> appointed Urban Splash four years ago as a partner to redevelop seven large sites in or near the city centre, the St Thomas site being one of them.<\/p>\n

A report before cabinet said former tramlines and \u201cwagon ways\u201d were replaced in the past by a railway which terminated at the St Thomas site. The railway transported coal, it said, and served passengers until 1950. The seven-acre plot of land has a shared-use path running through it, and some of it has been used as a building compound.<\/p>\n

Cabinet approved what was described in the report as stage one of the project plan. Urban Splash<\/a> will refine its proposals as part of the next stage, and undertake a pre-planning application consultation. Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The seven-acre development site (left of river) in St Thomas (Image: Swansea Council )<\/p>\n

Council leader Rob Stewart listed other schemes under way or planned along the River Tawe and said the St Thomas project could become a \u201cfantastic\u201d waterfront redevelopment which better connected the eastside community to the city. Cllr Andrea Williams, who has the housing brief, said she particularly welcomed the 50% affordable housing aspect of the plan. \u201cI\u2019m really pleased to see that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The cabinet report said a Welsh Government<\/a> housing grant would be sought for the affordable homes and that external funding would also be pursued to pay for an upgrade of the shared-use path, wider landscaping of the site, a parking area set within trees, and better Pentreguinea Road pedestrian crossings.<\/p>\n

Part of the site has been used as a building compound (Image: Richard Youle )<\/p>\n

Urban Splash is to explore with the council the potential for stepped access down to the river, a pontoon, a boardwalk to the nearby SA1 neighbourhood, and the future introduction of a pedestrian bridge across the river.<\/p>\n

A project timeline contained the cabinet report said a full planning application could be submitted next April, with work starting on site potentially in June the following year.<\/p>\n

Sketch showing a rough layout of apartments and houses facing west across the river (Image: courtesy of Swansea Council )<\/p>\n

The St Thomas site has a lot of greenery although it\u2019s pretty overgrown. The views west across the river are an asset but it is bounded on two sides by busy roads.<\/p>\n

A member of staff at The Ship Inn, St Thomas, said she hadn\u2019t heard of the development proposals until now. \u201cThe houses would get a nice view of the river, but on the other side it\u2019s the road,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A railway once terminated there and now there are plans for a major transformationLand on the east bank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,150191,1148,14701,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-445124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-st-thomas","11":"tag-swansea","12":"tag-swansea-council","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115252208375748716","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}