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SWANSEA: SA1 finally gets its park — as the pupils who helped design it cut the ribbon

SA1 has a park. Pupils from St Thomas Primary and Danygraig Primary cut the ribbon on it on Monday morning with Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart.

The site near Prince of Wales Dock had stood empty since the area was developed. It now has play equipment, landscaped areas, seating and accessible paths, with planting the council says is designed to support wildlife and pollinators.

The children helped design it. Swansea Council says its landscape team worked with its play team and drew on ideas and feedback from pupils at both schools.

“It has also been shaped with help from local schoolchildren, which makes it even more special,” Rob Stewart said. “Their ideas have helped create a space that reflects the community it will serve.”

From coal dock to climbing frame

The scheme was paid for from Section 106 contributions — money developers hand over to fund community infrastructure as an area is built out.

The dock the park overlooks was built in 1881, when Swansea’s coal and copper trades were at full tilt. The Prince of Wales Dock worked for a century before the port trade around it fell away.

The Welsh Development Agency began turning the former dockland into the SA1 district in the early 2000s, owning the land and marketing the plots. When the WDA was abolished in April 2006 the land passed to the Welsh Government — which still owns SA1’s land and roads today, not the council.

Twenty years on, the agency is heading for a comeback. A panel to design a revived WDA was announced this month, one of the new Welsh Government’s flagship commitments.

A long time coming

The Section 106 funding has been sitting behind these parks for some time.

In June last year the council said work was under way on two SA1 parks, costing in the region of £1m, and that both were due to be fully open to the public by early 2026.

They were not. The first opened on Monday morning.

The one now open is the larger of the pair, on Langdon Road near the Village Hotel.

The second park

The second was to sit between Langdon Road and the corner of Prince of Wales Dock — the council’s 2025 announcement promised it a pump track, open green space and wildflowers. It is not mentioned in this week’s announcement, and no date has been given for it.

The council’s 2025 description of the larger park also promised a basketball space and play facilities for children with disabilities. This week’s announcement lists play equipment and natural play features, and does not say whether those went in.

The row that ran alongside the diggers

The delay has been politically live, and the man making the case is the park’s own ward member. Liberal Democrat councillor Sam Bennett, who represents Waterfront, said last year that residents had been promised a park in SA1 for a decade, and that every date given had come and gone.

Cllr Bennett claimed £1m had been set aside for three parks in SA1 when the area was first developed, and that more than ten years on all three plots were undeveloped and being used as builders’ compounds.

Rob Stewart called those comments “pretty disingenuous and misleading” at the time. He said work on two parks was well under way, and suggested the criticism was the opening of Cllr Bennett’s Senedd election campaign.

Then Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds backed Cllr Bennett, saying many SA1 residents live in flats and town houses without gardens.

Both men went on to stand in May’s Senedd election, against each other. Neither was elected, and both remain Swansea councillors.

Cllr Bennett flagged the opening on Facebook on 7 July, six days before it happened and eight before the council announced it. Residents should get down there and be first on the new swings, he wrote.

Swansea’s second new park in a century

The new park is the city’s second in recent years. Amy Dillwyn Park, next to Swansea Arena, was the first new urban park in Swansea for a century, according to the council. That park doubles as the largest green roof in Wales.

“It will be a fantastic addition to SA1 and is another example of our vision to continue providing communities with the things they want that support their wellbeing and our natural environment,” Rob Stewart said.

The council says the park is part of wider work on public space in SA1, alongside a £3m programme of new skate and wheeled sports facilities across the city. Horizon Engineering Ltd was the main contractor.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Row over city waterfront park development
The 2025 war of words between Cllr Sam Bennett and Rob Stewart over SA1’s promised parks.

NEW WDA: Swansea and Port Talbot ports boss to shape Wales’ development agency — as Tories warn there’s ‘no plan’
The agency that built SA1 is being revived — the panel designing it was announced this month.

Swansea celebrates being Wales’ green roof pioneer on World Green Roof Day
Amy Dillwyn Park — the city’s first new urban park in a century — is also Wales’ largest green roof.

Three more skateparks open as £3m wheeled sports drive rolls on
New and upgraded parks at Victoria Park, Townhill and Penlan, with more sites to come.

Youth ASB reports fall in Swansea’s SA1 after summer crackdown
Police figures showed a sharp drop in reports of youth anti-social behaviour in the waterfront area.