Plans to develop a £39m hotel and luxury apartments complex on Mumbles Head were approved by Swansea councillors yesterday.
Mumbles Pier proposed development
Swansea Council’s planning committee voted 30-4 for the scheme.
The outline application consists of residential flats, retail units and restaurant, a new pedestrian boardwalk, a redevelopment of the pavilion and a six-storey building that would either be a 70-bed hotel or more apartments.
The developers who submitted the scheme to the planning committee, family-owned amusement equipment firm AMECO, which owns the land and the crumbling Victorian Mumbles Pier, said it needed cash from the development to restore and re-develop the pier.
The pier dates back to 1898 and has been owned by the Bollom family for 70 years.
Under the plans the rusting pier will be re-built using galvanised steel and there will be more public access.
The planning committee’s approval does not have to be finalised by Swansea council but the Welsh Government has to ratify the scheme because of its size.
Artists impression of Mumbles Pier
John Bollom, managing director of AMECO said: “We are delighted at this result which represents the culmination of six years solid work.
“Swansea councillors have given the scheme a vote of confidence and we intend delivering on their expectations.”
“The overwhelming view locally and in the wider community is that ours is a sustainable scheme that will improve Mumbles and provide a much-needed boost to the area.”
He claimed the vote safeguarded Mumbles as the operational home for the key offshore RNLI vessel.
He said: “Our next steps are to finalise the necessary funding packages and begin the land sale tendering process.”
The planning committee has placed a number of conditions on approval of the scheme.
They include repairing and re-developing the pier being the first phase of the scheme.
The developers must also improve bus services to and from the pier, provide an element of affordable housing and improve access to the beach.
Friday, 24 June 2011.
