How £7m scheme is helping to greatly reduce risk of flooding

JUST over a decade ago a chunk of riverside land in Swansea wasn’t the most inviting of places, and that’s the understatement of the year.

- RICHARD YOULE

The former stadium park and ride site on the northern edge of Swansea Enterprise Park, by the River Tawe, had a large area of hardstanding, fencing, and scrubland.

A Google Maps image from 2011 shows a collection of gas canisters by the park and ride entrance and some traveller caravans.

There were and still are trees running along the banks of the adjacent River Tawe but the whole character of the area changed when Environment Agency Wales, as it was then, began exploring a major flood defence project.

The £7m Lower Swansea Valley flood defence scheme would include moving the existing flood embankment and path further back from the Tawe to create a new wetland area with ponds.

This wetland would act as a giant sponge to absorb surging water, protecting homes and businesses downstream and creating new habitat.

The project, in collaboration with Swansea Council, also resulted in a new footbridge downstream which is at a higher level than its predecessor, plus other raised embankments using 52 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of soil excavated from the former park and ride site.