Ellipse building SA1 Waterfront
In recent years the Swansea Bay region has been transformed into a modern service sector dominated economy. The historic legacy of industrial dereliction has been tackled, and the city and region are being re-invented.
With unprecedented levels of investment over recent years, Swansea Bay is changing into a dynamic business region complete with a Waterfront City and a developing knowledge economy at the heart of its aims for the future.
Swansea Bay has benefited from significant investment and employment growth in recent years. Public and private sector investment in developments such as SA1 Swansea Waterfront, The Institute of Life Science, The Liberty Stadium, Baglan Energy Park, Llanelli Waterside and Ffos Las Racecourse are significant expressions of this new confidence. This dynamism allied with the stunning natural environment makes Swansea Bay a vibrant place where people really want to live and work.
See our investing in pages for further information on business and the economy in Swansea Bay, including key contacts and organisations.
SA1 Waterfront, Prince of Wales Dock
Swansea’s Economic Regeneration Strategy
Building upon the economic success that has been achieved to date within the regional capital of Swansea, an Economic Regeneration Strategy has been produced that will guide the regeneration of Swansea's economy over the next ten to fifteen years.
The strategy, produced by the Swansea Economic Regeneration Partnership, seeks to raise prosperity levels for all people, businesses and communities in the City & County of Swansea. This strategy is known as Swansea 2020.
The strategy aims to develop Swansea into:
- An internationally competitive economy, with output, productivity and wage rates at least as good as the UK's average.
- Wales' leading centre for the knowledge economy, recognised for its adoption of innovation and anticipation of market and technology change.
- A region operating with an economically active population equal in size in percentage terms to the Great Britain average, known for its high skills and providing critical labour mass in the priority Focus Clusters.
- A proud, vibrant and ambitious city, at the heart of a wider region where people want to live and work.
Further information about Swansea 2020 can be found at www.swansea2020.com
The Wales Spatial Plan aims to guide the wider Swansea Bay region's economy and development. The Wales Spatial Plan is a framework for ensuring that the development of places and the delivery of services work together at a local, regional and national level, thereby improving the lives and prosperity of the citizens therein.
Partners in the Spatial Plan include the Welsh Assembly Government, local authorities, education, health, transport, housing and environment departments, Welsh Language Board, Jobcentre Plus, National Park Authorities, TUC, tourism partnerships, businesses and many others.
‘Swansea Bay – Waterfront and Western Valleys’ is one of the six key Spatial Plan areas, with a strategy of its own.
The Vision for the region is:
'An area of planned sustainable growth and environmental improvement, realising its potential, supported by integrated transport within the area and externally, and spreading prosperity to support the revitalisation of West Wales'
In the Swansea Bay and Western Valleys areas, partners involved in the Spatial Plan are embarking on a range of studies and actions to provide the evidence base for development in this area.
These include:
- Producing a framework for strategic developments in Swansea Bay and the Western Valleys which will help the area realise its potential as a sustainable and integrated city/region by 2021.
- An assessment of how the waterfront between Pembrey and Porthcawl can be managed and developed for the benefit of the area as a whole.
- Working with partners to identify support that will help people to become economically active, including social, health, transport and skill issues.
- Auditing the assets of the area and their potential to contribute to sustainable tourism, plus developing leisure, exercise and culture opportunities for local people.
- Realising the potential of Swansea University and other centres of excellence for developing the economy.
- Identifying skill shortages which are likely to hinder the development of a competitive workforce and slow economic growth in the area.
- Developing an integrated transport plan for the area.
