A regeneration programme worth over £1bn is ongoing in Swansea to create more jobs and opportunities for local people and local businesses, while also helping to attract even more investment in future.
Although this includes a number of new buildings like Swansea Arena, we’re also doing all we can to celebrate Swansea’s heritage and breathe new life into the city’s historic gems.
This includes our work to restore and transform The Palace Theatre on High Street, which dates back to 1888.
Along with other officers including Mark Wade, Elliott Williams and Tracy Nichols, I visited the theatre building yesterday to see first-hand the progress that’s taking place on site.
Due to be managed by Welsh business Tramshed Tech, the development is now coming on in leaps and bounds. With the scheme anticipated for completion by the end of the year, there’s now a real wow factor inside because the central space is free of scaffolding and you can see the shape of the theatre as it once was. It’s part of a £100m investment to help transform the High Street area.
Other developments including the 71/72 Kingsway office scheme are making considerable progress too, as Swansea’s transformation continues to gather pace.
That development, as well as Swansea Arena and the Innovation Matrix scheme being led by the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, are being part-funded by the Swansea Bay City Deal.
On Wednesday, I was at a City Deal event in the arena to hear about the progress of many projects throughout South West Wales. Over 150 businesses and partner organisations were in attendance and it’s so encouraging to see the public and private sectors working so closely together to create a brighter future for both Swansea and the broader City Region as a whole. It was great to meet colleagues from the regional teams and other businesses plus many delegates who were very positive about the progress being made in Swansea
We’ve also started remarketing a hotel opportunity in recent days for the site between the arena and the LC in a further boost for Swansea’s transformation.
During the last week, I also met staff in our welfare rights team who continue to do so much great work to benefit many thousands of local residents. This is especially important given the ongoing cost of living crisis, so my thanks to Jane Storer for talking me through their work and the challenges they face.
This week is National Social Work Week 2024, which helps shine a light on all the great work done by social workers across the country. That’s certainly the case here at the council, so my thanks to our social services team for all they do every day for children, young people, adults, carers and families.
Switching to education, cabinet yesterday approved a £3.25m investment in Townhill Primary School that will lead to an all-weather pitch, a new school dining area, kitchen and community facilities there. This follows-on from the recent addition of a new play area for local children at the Phoenix Centre as we continue to invest in communities across the city.
Well done to our trading standards team too for their recent work in seizing illegal vapes with a street value of more than £47,000, along with large amounts of counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco. They were found in a disused WW2 bunker in a Swansea garden.
This week marks the retirement of two long-serving members of staff – Paul Lilley and Dave Meyrick.
Paul has been with the council for 42 years, taking over the housing finance function in 2014. His knowledge of the Housing Revenue Account and the numerous financial functions will be hugely missed.
Dave joined the council in 1986, with his most recent role being housing programme and planning delivery manager. He had a big input into the work involved in preparing for and achieving the Welsh Housing Quality Standard and numerous other maintenance and improvement projects.
They’ll be enormously missed by their colleagues so I’d like to join them in wishing both Paul and Dave my best wishes for long, happy retirements.
I’ll be taking some leave next week, so it’s an early Happy Easter from me to all staff.
The blog will return two weeks today (Friday April 5).
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