#gowerton — Public Fediverse posts

GOWERTON: ‘Surely they should have foreseen this?’ — the decade-long fight over homes, schools and mine shafts now in the hands of a Welsh Government inspector

Swansea Council says claims about the Fairwood Terrace development are “misleading and inaccurate”. Campaigners say a village that maintains a memorial to its mining past is being asked to believe the mines came as a £10m surprise. The documents tell a story a decade in the making.

A bitter dispute over one of Swansea’s biggest housing schemes has erupted into the open — with the council accusing campaigners of spreading “misleading and inaccurate claims”, and campaigners accusing the council of hiding the numbers behind proposed cuts to affordable housing and school funding.

At its centre is the plan for 216 homes at Fairwood Terrace in Gowerton — refused by the council’s own planning committee, and now in the hands of a Welsh Government inspector.

Persimmon Homes is proposing 10.2% affordable housing on the site, against the 20% the council’s development plan seeks for the wider area — and no money towards schools.

Those are the developer’s proposals, set out in a legal undertaking offered as part of its appeal to the Welsh Government — not terms the council has accepted, and nothing is yet decided. It will fall to the inspector to determine whether the scheme, and what it would offer Gowerton, is acceptable.

The justification is around £10m in “abnormal” site costs: stabilising old mine workings, dealing with contamination, and other ground problems — costs the appraisal puts at roughly £47,000 for every home built.

Campaign group Save Gowerton From Gridlock, which says it represents some 1,400 residents, believes those costs were foreseeable — and should have been reflected in what was paid for the land, not in lost contributions to the community.

The council and the developer’s appraisal say the costs went beyond what could reasonably have been allowed for when the site was earmarked for housing.

Who is right would help decide what Gowerton gets from the biggest development in its history. And it is a question with a very long tail.

A village built on coal

The land in this corner of Gowerton was worked for coal for most of the Victorian age — Gorwydd Colliery opened in 1855 and closed in 1890.

The village has never forgotten it. In the centre of Gowerton, schoolchildren spent last year tiling mosaics for the refreshed Mining Disaster Memorial Garden.

And when the former colliery land was first proposed for housing a decade ago, nobody pretended the pits weren’t there.

The site promoter’s own submission to the council’s development plan acknowledged uncapped mine shafts, a structurally unsound colliery chimney, and more than four hectares of colliery waste.

Residents, petitioning alongside their ward councillor, went further — warning the council in formal representations that remediating the land would be so expensive it “raises the question whether the site would be commercially viable to develop”.

They also warned, citing Welsh Water’s own assessment, that the public sewers were unlikely to cope — and that the foul water would end up in the protected Burry Inlet. The site’s promoters said at the time that Welsh Water had confirmed capacity was available.

A decade on, both warnings sit at the heart of the row.

‘Gold bars’: the first time around

Because this is not the first time a developer on this coalfield has come back after winning permission to say the ground was worse than expected.

Across the railway line from the Fairwood Terrace site, housing association Pobl won consent in 2018 to build 99 homes on the former colliery itself — agreeing to pay £369,076 towards local schools, £35,000 for a crossing, and to make 30% of the homes affordable.

Then the trees came down — lawfully, under the terms of the permission — and the ground was investigated. Pobl told the council the costs were “far greater than was originally anticipated”, and asked to strip most of the school money out.

Swansea’s planning committee refused the first attempt in March 2021, in the face of 342 objections.

“The difficulties that Pobl have found were very clearly highlighted,” Cllr Peter Black told that meeting, citing a previous planning report. Cllr Mary Jones agreed: “We all knew this site would be difficult.”

Cllr Richard Lewis put it more bluntly: “We are giving gold bars away.”

Others argued for pragmatism. Cllr Des Thomas said that if members wanted homes for people in need, “we need to think of where we are today and look for a way forward” — and a second, revised application succeeded a month later.

The contribution to Gowerton Primary School — £272,659 — was removed, with the council’s education department recording it had “no option but to agree”. Welsh-medium school contributions were kept.

Gowerton Community Council objected in terms that read differently five years on: “The promise of the investment was made to secure the application and now Pobl are trying to get out of it due to increased costs. Surely they should have foreseen this?”

And the village’s then sole ward councillor, Susan Jones, issued a warning in her formal objection: “There may be developers looking at this decision and I am sure will be applying to do the same.”

The contractor’s records show mine remediation on that site — drilling and grouting across half the development and the capping of several shafts — was finished by the end of October 2021.

The estate built on the cleared woodland was named Woodland Grove.

Fairwood Terrace: refusal, appeal and a major blow

By then, Persimmon was already at work across the railway line. According to information later released by the council under environmental information laws, its detailed site investigations at Fairwood Terrace were completed in March 2022 — months before the 230-home plans went to public consultation that December.

The viability appraisal that now underpins the 10.2% affordable offer was commissioned in March 2023 and concluded in January 2024.

It found the scheme could support a blended profit of 19% — at the top of the Welsh Government’s accepted 15–20% range — on homes expected to sell for between £220,000 and £365,000.

In September 2024, the council’s planning committee refused the application on traffic grounds, against officers’ advice — and Persimmon appealed.

In April, the inspector dealt the scheme a major blow, ordering a full environmental impact assessment expected to take six months to a year — accepting the campaigners’ argument that the site cannot be judged in isolation from the development planned around it.

That wider picture includes a 600-home scheme that could create a continuous ribbon of housing from Penllergaer to Gowerton — on a strategic site where the council’s housing blueprint has so far delivered a fraction of what it promised.

Where did the school money go?

The sharpest dispute is over schools.

When the Fairwood Terrace application was assessed in 2024, the council’s own education department set out that the development would generate around 90 pupils, with a total education value of more than £1.7m across all age groups.

It requested full developer contributions for Welsh-medium primary, and for English and Welsh-medium secondary and post-16 places — and warned that rejecting such requests “risks Education being in a position that it is unable to accommodate catchment area pupils in their local school”.

It did not request a contribution for English-medium primary places, because Gowerton Primary was forecast to have spare capacity.

Yet the council’s published summary of the viability appraisal records simply that no education contribution was requested “since there was sufficient capacity identified by the Education Department”.

Asked by Swansea Bay News to explain the gap between the department’s detailed requests and warnings and that summary, the council said children from the development “were assessed as being likely to attend schools in Gowerton where capacity was identified, rather than in existing or proposed schools elsewhere”.

The campaign group also points to the council’s own 2017 evidence for its development plan, which stated the western part of the strategic site would contribute £1.34m towards a new primary school.

The council says it “does not recognise” that figure, adding “it would be wrong to suggest that future contributions towards education provision have been erased” — and that future applications on the wider site may still be required to contribute.

The £10m nobody has seen

Nobody outside the council and the developer has seen what makes up the £10m of abnormal costs.

The group asked for the full appraisal under environmental information laws. The council answered that first request but withheld the appraisal itself, citing commercial confidentiality — then published a summary with Persimmon’s agreement in May, before refusing a 12-question follow-up as “manifestly unreasonable”. The group says it has now complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office, and a separate complaint remains in the council’s own system.

Asked whether it would publish a breakdown of the £10m, the council said an itemised breakdown “would have included some commercially sensitive information” — covering contractual confidentiality, supplier pricing schedules, and “information that could materially affect competitive positions in land transactions”.

Persimmon defended the process robustly. The viability position “is not new”, it said — it was tested during the application through an open-book assessment, “independently scrutinised by viability consultants acting on behalf of Swansea Council”.

Before the committee’s refusal, the developer pointed out, the council’s own planning officers had recommended approval — having “reviewed the viability evidence in detail and negotiated the proposed obligations accordingly”.

Persimmon also points to a safeguard written into the undertaking. Under Schedule 5, a fresh viability appraisal must be submitted with the detailed designs if the appeal succeeds — a review that could see the affordable housing rise above 10.2% should the scheme’s finances improve.

The review can only push the proportion upwards: the resolution underpinning it sets a floor of 10% affordable housing, against the 20% the council’s plan seeks for the wider site.

Asked whether the council will argue against the developer’s viability case at the appeal — or accept it — the council explained how its policy works but did not say. The question is pointed: the package now offered at appeal reflects obligations the council’s own officers reviewed and negotiated before the committee refused the scheme on traffic grounds.

The Welsh Government confirmed the viability evidence will be examined either way. “All relevant matters will be before the Inspector for consideration, including financial viability if this has been raised as an issue in the case,” a spokesperson said — adding that campaigners and other interested parties can submit their own documents to the inquiry. The appeal papers are public on the planning casework portal.

What’s actually on offer

The legal undertaking sets out what the 216-home scheme would provide for the community: £60,000 towards a bike hire scheme, £60,000 towards the Elba multi-use games area, £40,000 towards traffic signal upgrades, and £15,000 for a solar-powered air quality sensor.

That £175,000 total, the campaigners say, stands against the millions the council’s own infrastructure plan envisaged for the wider site. The affordable homes that would be built — just over one in ten — would be 82% social rent and 18% intermediate.

The group raises a further question about what the wider site was meant to deliver. It says the infrastructure plan supporting the council’s development plan required a relief road for the strategic site, costed at close to £3m — and that when Fairwood Terrace came forward as the first of the site’s three parcels, it was able to point to the later schemes to provide the road. None of the applications now submitted across the site includes it, the group says. That claim has not been independently verified by Swansea Bay News.

Seller and judge: the council’s own land

There is one more thread: the council is not just the planning authority here. It is also a landowner within the strategic site.

Barratt Redrow confirmed it is in talks with the council. A spokesperson said the company was “engaged in positive discussions with Swansea Council regarding the delivery of a mix of private and affordable homes, alongside new community facilities, at the allocated strategic site in Gowerton/Waunarlwydd to help meet local housing needs”.

Persimmon, asked about similar discussions, did not deny them. “Persimmon routinely engages with a range of stakeholders, including local authorities and landowners, in relation to strategic development opportunities,” it said. “However, we do not comment on commercially sensitive discussions.”

So the council is in discussions to sell land to housebuilders whose applications it will itself determine. The campaign group calls that a conflict of interest.

The council says the allegation is “unfounded”. It “regularly determines planning applications for development on land under its own ownership”, a spokesperson said; decisions rest on planning grounds alone, “entirely, independently of issues of land ownership”, and any decision driven by its financial interests “would leave the decision open to challenge and quashing of the decision by the courts”.

The developers’ case

Urban Style Land, the site’s promoter, set out the developers’ case in robust terms. The company has an agreement with the landowners to appoint a housebuilder and bring it in as joint applicant, director Tim Holder explained — Persimmon having been chosen through a tender process — with targets for housing, density and access all drawn from the council’s adopted development plan.

The application was “totally compliant with the LDP”, Mr Holder said, had addressed every technical issue, and won the support of council officers — who declined to act for the authority at appeal. Despite that, it was refused “by one vote and based on one unrelated reason for refusal”.

“As investors who would go on to become involved in high expenditure and time commitment, Urban Style Land Ltd and the whole team deserved to rely on the policies set out and adopted by the Council,” he said — warning that the refusal left the council facing its own costs and the developers’ costs if the appeal succeeds, and that “future investment in Swansea will no doubt be on a more cautious basis”.

Of the neighbouring Gorwydd Road site, Mr Holder confirmed land remediation had formed part of the project, which he described as “a successful development of Affordable units by Pobl Housing Association”.

The warning that came true

Meanwhile, the warning residents made about sewerage a decade ago has resurfaced — this time from the regulator.

Natural Resources Wales told the council last month that another application on the strategic site — a hybrid scheme including a new school — had not demonstrated sufficient sewer capacity or shown it would avoid adding nutrients to the protected Burry Inlet, and noted parts of the school site sit in flood zones.

Barratt Redrow said it was “working closely with Swansea Council, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water and industry experts to address the concerns raised by Natural Resources Wales regarding the Burry Inlet catchment, to ensure the development has no detrimental impact on water quality”.

What happens next

Campaign group Save Gowerton From Gridlock dismissed the council’s statement as “a classic exercise in bureaucratic spin, designed to deflect from a profound lack of transparency”.

“The community is not ‘misunderstanding’ the planning process,” its spokesman Carl Jones said. “We are actively exposing it.”

He returned to the withheld appraisal: “If the developer’s financial excuses are robust, why hide the mathematics from the very tax-paying residents who will have to live with the consequences? This is a community fighting to ensure Gowerton is not treated as a cash cow.”

For now, the scheme is in limbo. The Welsh Government confirmed the appeal “cannot progress further” until Persimmon submits its environmental impact assessment, and that there is no timetable yet for a decision.

When it comes, the inspector will report to the minister with a recommendation — the final word resting with the Welsh Government, not the council that refused the scheme. It will determine more than one field on the edge of one village: it will signal whether, on Swansea’s coalfield sites, the cost of history is carried by the developer who buys the land, or by the communities who live on it.

And in Gowerton, where the children are still tiling the memorial to the men who worked these seams, nobody needed a viability appraisal to know the mines were there.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

GOWERTON: Housing row — ‘we’re still fighting,’ says councillor as Fairwood Terrace appeal enters decisive phase
Cllr Dai Jenkins vowed the village would keep up the fight as the appeal reached a critical stage.

GOWERTON: Persimmon’s Fairwood Terrace plans dealt massive blow as Welsh Government orders full environmental assessment
The inspector accepted the cumulative-impact argument, ordering a full EIA expected to take up to a year.

7,000 homes promised, just 300 built: Swansea’s housing blueprint falters
How the strategic sites at the heart of the city’s plan have so far delivered a fraction of what was promised.

Continuous ribbon of housing could stretch from Penllergaer to Gowerton as new 600-home scheme unveiled
The wider development picture around the contested Fairwood Terrace site.

GOWERTON: Persimmon’s Fairwood Terrace plans dealt massive blow as Welsh Government orders full environmental assessment

Campaigners fighting Persimmon Homes’ proposed 216-home development at Fairwood Terrace in Gowerton have won a landmark ruling after a Welsh Government planning inspector ordered the scheme to undergo a full Environmental Impact Assessment – directly accepting their argument that the developer cannot treat each planning application in the area as if the others do not exist.

The ruling, issued by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), reverses previous decisions on the Fairwood Terrace site and represents a significant setback for Persimmon Homes, which had been appealing Swansea Council‘s 2024 refusal of the scheme on traffic grounds. The inspector has ruled that the 216-home proposal cannot be looked at in isolation – it must be assessed alongside the wider strategic allocation, including a 460-home site and a 600-home scheme also promoted by Persimmon in the same corridor.

Save Gowerton from Gridlock, the community group led by Carl Jones which has fought the development for years, described the ruling as incredible news. The group said the inspector’s acceptance of what they call the “salami-slicing” argument – the practice of breaking a large strategic site into separate applications to avoid cumulative scrutiny – was a “massive victory.”

The ruling also found there was “insufficient certainty” that pollution and nutrient levels in the Burry Inlet could be mitigated, triggering what campaigners describe as the precautionary principle – meaning the law now demands the highest level of environmental scrutiny before any decision can be made.

Persimmon Homes now have 21 days to decide their next move. They can accept the ruling and commission the full Environmental Impact Assessment – a process expected to take between six and twelve months and involving expensive, large-scale environmental studies covering traffic, flood risk, pollution and ecological impact. Alternatively, if they refuse to provide the required report, the inspector can effectively dismiss the appeal entirely.

Save Gowerton from Gridlock say they have already contacted PEDW to ensure the group is formally consulted on the scoping of the new studies, giving them the opportunity to ensure that every traffic bottleneck and flood risk is included in the environmental workload.

The Fairwood Terrace site has been at the centre of one of Swansea’s most fiercely contested planning disputes. Plans were first drawn up in 2022, when Persimmon proposed around 230 homes on land between the River Llan and the railway line beside Gowerton station. The scheme also included a new station forecourt with a potential park-and-ride, a bus-only link eastward toward Waunarlwydd, upgraded traffic lights at Fairwood Terrace’s junction with Victoria Road, and a walking and cycling connection through to the neighbouring development site.

The proposal attracted nearly 900 objection letters and a 300-signature petition from residents who feared it would overwhelm already-congested junctions, increase flood risk and damage the character of the village. Swansea Council rejected the scheme on traffic grounds in 2024, despite planning officers advising that refusal would be difficult to defend at appeal. Persimmon subsequently appealed to the Welsh Government, and the case has been with PEDW ever since.

The Fairwood Terrace story so far

December 2022 – Persimmon first drew up plans for 230 homes at Fairwood Terrace, beside Gowerton station, as part of the Waunarlwydd North LDP allocation.

2024 – Swansea Council refused the application on traffic grounds despite officer support for approval, after nearly 900 objection letters and a 300-signature petition from local residents.

October 2025 – Persimmon unveiled a separate 600-home scheme south of the A484, directly opposite Bellway’s Parc Mawr development in Penllergaer, designed to link via an active travel route into Fairwood Terrace – raising fears of a continuous ribbon of housing along the entire A484 corridor.

April 2026 – Barratt and David Wilson Homes submitted a planning application for 430 homes on the Fforestfach/Waunarlwydd site – part of the same wider 716-home strategic allocation – further intensifying pressure on the corridor.

April 2026 – Welsh Government inspector rules the 216-home appeal must undergo a full Environmental Impact Assessment, accepting the “salami-slicing” argument. Persimmon now have 21 days to decide whether to commission the studies or walk away.

The backdrop to the dispute is a proposed continuous ribbon of housing stretching from Penllergaer through Gorseinon, Waunarlwydd and Gowerton along the A484. Persimmon’s separate 600-home scheme sits directly opposite Bellway’s Parc Mawr development in Penllergaer, designed to connect via an active travel route westward into Fairwood Terrace. Further along the same wider 716-home strategic allocation, Barratt and David Wilson Homes have now submitted a full planning application for 430 homes at Fforestfach.

If all the schemes along the corridor proceed, close to 3,000 new homes would be built in a continuous stretch – an amount campaigners say amounts to a new town stitched together along the A484. Today’s ruling that the Fairwood Terrace appeal must be assessed alongside those neighbouring sites is precisely the argument Save Gowerton from Gridlock has been making since the campaign began.

In February, Cllr Dai Jenkins told residents the fight was far from over as the appeal process stretched weeks beyond its original timetable. Jenkins had been pressing PEDW and Natural Resources Wales not to grant further extensions to Persimmon while the developer still owed information on nutrient neutrality and flood risk, and had called for a face-to-face hearing rather than a virtual process.

Today’s ruling vindicates that position. The inspector has accepted that the cumulative impact of the Fairwood Terrace scheme alongside the 460-home and 600-home sites must be formally assessed, and that the environmental uncertainty around the Burry Inlet is too significant to be set aside.

Carl Jones said the group had not yet won the war but had won a “massive battle.” He added that campaigners would continue to monitor the 21-day window closely and push for full consultation rights over whatever environmental studies Persimmon choose to commission, to ensure that every traffic pinchpoint, flood risk and pollution concern is properly included in the scope.

The decision is likely to be studied closely by communities facing similar large-scale planning applications across Swansea and the wider region, where cumulative development pressure along key arterial routes has been a recurring flashpoint.

More updates will follow as the 21-day deadline approaches.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Gowerton housing row: ‘We’re still fighting’ says councillor as Fairwood Terrace appeal enters decisive phase
Cllr Dai Jenkins’ February update as Persimmon faced pressure to provide nutrient neutrality and flood risk information.

Continuous ribbon of housing could stretch from Penllergaer to Gowerton as new 600-home scheme unveiled
How Persimmon’s linked schemes could create close to 3,000 homes along the A484 corridor.

Fforestfach: Planning application put in for major housing development
Barratt and David Wilson Homes’ 430-home application on the wider Waunarlwydd North strategic allocation.

Plans drawn up for 230-home development near Gowerton train station
Where it all started – Persimmon’s original 2022 proposals for the Fairwood Terrace site.

Long-serving Llansamlet councillor set to become Swansea’s next Lord Mayor

The Llansamlet ward member, who has served on Swansea Council since 2007, will take over the prestigious role from the current Lord Mayor of Swansea, Cllr Cheryl Philpott, in May.

Her appointment was confirmed at a full council meeting in January.

Cllr Matthews will be joined by fellow long-serving councillor Susan Jones, who is set to become the new Deputy Lord Mayor.

Born and brought up in the city, Cllr Matthews attended Manselton Primary School and later the Swansea Secondary Technical School for Girls after passing her 11-plus exam.

Her first step into the world of work was a Saturday job on the makeup counter at the old Woolworths in Oxford Street.

She later worked for the Steel Co of Wales at Velindre before going on to manage the office at D.C. Francis Coal Merchants for four years.

Her career continued at the Goods Vehicle Centre on the Strand in Swansea, where she served as a booking clerk and a union rep.

She then moved to the Jobcentre in Morriston, where she was also a Union Representative and covered front-line interventions for people signing on for benefits.

In addition to her council work, Cllr Matthews has been a governor at Trallwn Primary School since 1995, supporting the school by sitting on committees and attending events.

Cllr Matthews said:

“I’ve had a great year so far as Deputy Lord Mayor and I’m really looking forward to my year in office in May.

“I’m really looking forward to getting out and about and meeting the people of our fantastic city, as well as representing Swansea to visitors and as an ambassador for the city as a whole, at a very exciting time for our communities.”

The new Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Susan Jones, is an Independent councillor who has represented the Gowerton ward on Swansea Council since 2008.

She has also been a councillor on Gowerton Community Council since 1986.

Like Cllr Matthews, she has a long history of involvement in local education, serving as a governor of both Gowerton Comprehensive School and Gowerton Primary School.

Between 2001 and 2008, Cllr Jones also served as a Director for the Swansea Council for Voluntary Service (SCVS).

Carmarthenshire mum says Guide Dogs support was a ‘lifeline’ after baby son diagnosed with albinism

Chloe Davies, who now lives in Neath Port Talbot, said she was “consumed by worry” after her son Louie was born just after Christmas 2024 with albinism, a rare genetic condition that can cause significant sight loss. Louie, now one year old, attends Guide Dogs Cymru’s My Time To Play sessions in Gowerton, which support young children with visual impairments and offer parents a vital support network.

A difficult start and months of uncertainty

Chloe said she realised something was wrong almost immediately after Louie’s birth, when midwives raised concerns about his unusually white hair and the possibility of albinism. After a stressful delivery and a week in hospital, she returned home feeling overwhelmed.

“I remember feeling completely consumed by worry for his future, and a huge sense of guilt,” she said. “It was like I was failing him, in that I’d somehow given my baby a difficult life before he’d even got started.”

In the months that followed, Chloe spent hours researching the condition, trying to understand how best to support her son. But attending baby groups left her feeling isolated.

“Seeing younger babies engaging more, looking around and reacting to things was incredibly hard. I’d often drive home in tears.”

Louie was later diagnosed with nystagmus, a condition that causes involuntary eye movements. Chloe said she struggled to access support until she finally reached an Eye Care Liaison Officer — and within 24 hours, Guide Dogs Cymru stepped in.

‘An absolute lifeline’

Guide Dogs arranged a home visit, linked the family with a Qualified Teacher of the Visually Impaired, and offered counselling support.

“They were an absolute lifeline to our family,” Chloe said. “It was a huge relief to finally have the right support reaching out to us.”

Louie now attends fortnightly My Time To Play sessions in Gowerton, where children under four with visual impairments develop key skills through sensory play. The sessions also give parents a chance to connect with others facing similar challenges.

“The sessions have been more rewarding than I could ever have imagined,” Chloe said. “They’ve opened up an entire community I didn’t even know existed.”

A milestone moment at the wedding

Chloe married her partner Andrew on 31 January at Pencoed House Estate, with Louie by her side as their “unofficial best man”.

“It will be a very special moment to have Louie with us at our wedding,” she said. “After everything we’ve been through together, it only feels right that he’s up there with us.”

She added that Louie is thriving: standing confidently, exploring the house, and “always with the biggest grin”.

“Louie is happy, curious and thriving, and so am I. That’s something I never thought I’d be able to say during those early months.”

Guide Dogs Cymru is encouraging families of visually impaired children to get in touch to access support through its Children and Young Person services.

More information is available at: guidedogs.org.uk/getting-support

Gowerton housing row: ‘We’re still fighting’ says councillor as Fairwood Terrace appeal enters decisive phase

Cllr Dai Jenkins issued a fresh update to residents, confirming that the appeal process has now stretched weeks beyond its original timetable, with Persimmon Homes expected to submit outstanding information on nutrient neutrality and flood risk.

Jenkins said he and community group Save Gowerton from Gridlock, led by Carl Jones, have been pressing Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) and Natural Resources Wales for clarity — and urging them not to grant yet another extension.

“We’ve asked them not to give another extension,” he said. “We’ve also asked that we don’t get a virtual hearing because we want a face‑to‑face hearing.”

Residents want scrutiny of flood and traffic concerns

The proposed Fairwood Terrace development — part of a wider wave of large‑scale housing schemes across the A484 corridor — has sparked fierce opposition in Gowerton, with residents warning it would worsen congestion, increase flood risk and contribute to an unbroken stretch of new housing from Penllergaer to Gowerton.

Swansea Council previously rejected the plans on traffic grounds, despite planning officers advising that refusal would be difficult to defend at appeal.

Campaigners say any mitigation put forward by the developer must be fully scrutinised.

“If they do give mitigation, we need to see it and check it’s genuine,” Jenkins said.

Push for a public hearing

Jenkins said the community wants a firm date, a venue and a proper in‑person hearing — not a virtual process.

“We want a face‑to‑face hearing,” he said. “We’re hoping we can now go forward, get a date, get a venue.”

‘We’re still here, we’re still fighting’

The councillor thanked residents for their support and said he expects further information from PEDW next week.

“Just to let you know, we’re still here, we’re still fighting,” he said.

The Fairwood Terrace appeal is expected to be one of the most closely watched planning decisions in Swansea this year, with the outcome likely to shape future development across the western growth corridor.

Related stories

Plans drawn up for 230‑home development near Gowerton train station
Early proposals for a major housing scheme close to the station spark fresh debate over local infrastructure.

600‑home scheme could create ‘continuous ribbon of housing’
Concerns grow over cumulative development pressure along the A484 corridor.

7,000 homes promised, just 300 built
Swansea’s long‑term housing blueprint falters as delivery falls far behind targets.

Gowerton’s long‑awaited cycle and walking link opens
New active travel route finally completed after years of delays.

Rail chaos hits Swansea as 12‑day shutdown begins — passengers warned to expect long delays

The closure — running from Monday 26 January to Friday 6 February, with an additional full shutdown on Sunday 8 February — has been confirmed by Network Rail, which says engineers will be working “around the clock” on the Landore Viaduct and the surrounding track.

Network Rail says the work involves renewing rails, sleepers, switches, crossings and points, as well as refurbishing the viaduct structure that carries trains over the River Tawe. The organisation describes the upgrades as “vital” to keeping services safe and reliable.

Nick Millington, Network Rail’s Wales & Borders Route Director, said the closure was unavoidable:

“We’re carrying out vital track renewal work and refurbishing Landore Viaduct to improve the reliability of the railway for passenger and freight services. To complete this work safely, we need to close the railway between Port Talbot Parkway and Swansea. We’re sorry for the disruption this will cause.”

The history of Landore Viaduct

Landore Viaduct first opened in 1850 as part of the South Wales Railway engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The original structure was built largely from timber and carried trains across the River Tawe into Swansea.

The viaduct was rebuilt in the late 19th century as rail traffic increased, replacing the timber superstructure with stronger materials. Further modernisation took place in the 1970s, leaving only a handful of Brunel’s original masonry piers still visible today.

For more than 170 years, the viaduct has remained a key route for passenger and freight services travelling in and out of Swansea, linking the city to the wider South Wales Main Line.

The shutdown means no trains at all between Port Talbot Parkway and Swansea for most of the next 12 days. Both Transport for Wales and Great Western Railway say their services will be heavily affected, with replacement buses running throughout the closure.

TfW says passengers should expect longer journeys and changes to connections, with some early‑morning and late‑evening services diverted or curtailed. Services to West Wales will continue to run, but many will start or finish at different stations than usual.

Colin Lea, TfW’s Planning and Performance Director, said:

“These essential works are an important investment in making the railway more reliable for years to come. We know disruption is frustrating and we’re grateful to customers for bearing with us.”

GWR has confirmed that its London Paddington services will now start and finish at Port Talbot instead of Swansea for most of the closure period. Some trains will not run at all on Friday 6 February because rolling stock will be out of position.

Passengers travelling through Gowerton face additional disruption because a low bridge prevents full‑size coaches from serving the station. Smaller buses are being used, meaning passengers heading beyond Swansea will need to change vehicles at the station before continuing their journey.

The disruption will intensify again this coming weekend, with buses replacing trains between Cardiff, Bridgend and Swansea on Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February, and further changes on Sunday 8 February.

Despite the upheaval, Swansea Station itself remains open, with ticketing, toilets and refreshments available as normal.

With the closure now underway, thousands of commuters are bracing for delays, packed buses and longer journeys — and hoping the promised improvements will justify the disruption.

Managed to walk under 6 miles completing three Slow Ways today. Feels like a bit of a record - are there other locations this close together? #Gorseinon #Gowerton #Loughor #SlowWays

Managed to walk under 6 miles completing three Slow Ways today. Feels like a bit of a record - are there other locations this close together? #Gorseinon #Gowerton #Loughor #SlowWays

Cllr Andrew Stevens, #SwanseaCouncil’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure has spoken out against plans to build a massive #solarfarm on 85 acres of farmland between #Gorseinon, #Fforestfach, #Gowerton and #Waunarlwydd.

Cllr Stevens, a local farmer who also represents the Gorseinon and Penyrheol ward, says to take such a large amount of productive local farmland out of use does not sit well with him at all – even more so how the proposals have come about.

https://swanseabaynews.com/2022/12/08/councils-cabinet-member-for-environment-speaks-out-against-massive-solar-farm-plans/

Cllr Andrew Stevens, #SwanseaCouncil’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure has spoken out against plans to build a massive #solarfarm on 85 acres of farmland between #Gorseinon, #Fforestfach, #Gowerton and #Waunarlwydd.

Cllr Stevens, a local farmer who also represents the Gorseinon and Penyrheol ward, says to take such a large amount of productive local farmland out of use does not sit well with him at all – even more so how the proposals have come about.

https://swanseabaynews.com/2022/12/08/councils-cabinet-member-for-environment-speaks-out-against-massive-solar-farm-plans/