Swansea
Leader Issue 108
August 2017 inside
Newspaper of the City and County of Swansea
your city: your paper
School’s Out Summer fun for the whole family plus
Page 3
• GREAT SPORTS: Youngsters at Sea View Primary School have been celebrating their first sports day on their new sports field, created by pupils with a little help from the council’s NEAT team. More on page 10. Picture by Jason Rogers
WORLD-class concerts, comedians, touring shows, theatre performances and exhibitions are on the way as Swansea city centre’s regeneration gathers pace. Swansea Council has now appointed ATG (Ambassador Theatre Group) to run the 3,500-seat digital indoor arena being planned for the Swansea Central development site. ATG, a venue management and production business, own and manage arenas and theatres in cities including London, New York and Sydney. Alongside a new multi-storey car park, Swansea’s digital indoor arena is planned for the LC car park area of the Swansea Central development site that includes the former St David’s shopping centre. The arena will attract up to 200 events a year.
part of the deal
City Deal funding paving way for world-class future CITY Deal funding will also lead to a new employment district on Kingsway that will benefit from state-of-the-art digital technology. Among the developments will be a new office building for tech businesses at the former Oceana nightclub site. Construction work will also start in late autumn on the Icon 21 development on Mariner Street including purpose-built accommodation for 725 students above shops and other businesses.
Rob Stewart, Swansea Council Leader, said: “This is another step forward for our plans to transform the city centre into the kind of vibrant destination that meets the aspirations of local people and visitors. “An outline planning application for the overall
Swansea Central development has also recently been approved which means we’re now working with Rivington Land, our development managers for the site, to secure tenants and finalise detailed building designs for a scheme that will also include new shops, restaurants, cafés, a boutique cinema, plenty of car parking spaces and a broad new pedestrian bridge over Oystermouth Road. “The digital indoor arena forms part of the City Deal programme that will see £1.3bn invested in the Swansea Bay area. We’re looking to start on site next year, with the arena being the first phase of the overall development. In combination with other plans, this will attract more people into the city centre, generate increased spending in our city centre businesses and turbocharge the regional economy, with Swansea city centre at its heart.” • Hotel plan, page 5.
In the pink How we’re making recycling easy page 4
Our big build Going inside brand new council homes page 9