Council leader pledges to restore Home Farm historic buildings

THE leader of Swansea Council has pledged to do all he could to restore historic buildings in a park depot where housing was at one stage proposed.

Cllr Rob Stewart said no restoration would take place at Home Farm, Singleton Park, Sketty, until a wider strategy for potential developments along Swansea Bay was drawn up.

Home Farm, which has a grade two-listed farmhouse, is used by the authority’s parks department.

The Labour leader’s announcement was well-received by the Liberal Democrat opposition group, which has campaigned against housing being built there. The Lib-Dems took the comments to mean that housing had been ruled out.

Addressing a meeting of full council, Cllr Stewart said Home Farm had been a “working industrial compound” for many years.

“However, it also contains a number of historic buildings which we want to protect and restore when the council vacates the compound,” he said.

“I want to confirm and reiterate that we will continue to do all we can to restore our heritage, and we will be ensuring that we will work towards a solution that allows the Home Farm buildings – the historic buildings – to find a new use, and to be reintegrated and linked better to the surrounding park area.”

Cllr Stewart said it was important to connect this work with wider “enhancements” along the promenade and bay.

“Therefore, no work on Home Farm heritage restoration will take place until a new Swansea Bay strategy can be brought forward and agreed,” he said.

The meeting moved on to other matters, and the Lib-Dems said afterwards : “We welcome the statement of the leader safeguarding the future of Home Farm, which shows that he has backed down and acknowledges that Home Farm in Singleton Park is not a suitable site for private residential development.”

They said it followed a lengthy campaign led by its councillors and local residents.

“We note the statement he made that the site will be part of a wider Swansea Bay strategy and we look forward to being asked to participate in developing this strategy and user groups,” added the Lib-Dems.

The council received a pre-planning enquiry about Home Farm in 2018, and the following April a cabinet report said there was an opportunity for the council to bring forward a heritage-based development, including some housing, to safeguard the site.

A total of 42 residential units were mentioned, a fifth of which would be classed as affordable, but none of the parkland itself would be touched.

The proposal sparked fierce debate and opposition, and the council set up a cross-party working group to consider a way forward.

Last November cabinet member for delivery and operations, Cllr David Hopkins, was asked at a meeting of full council if housing had been ruled out at Home Farm.

He said: “At this stage I would not rule out anything – what we are looking for is the best scheme for the city and for the park.”

Cllr Hopkins said the authority was “nowhere near” making a decision about any potential redevelopment.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Cllr Stewart if it was the case that housing wasn’t considered suitable at Home Farm, as the Lib-Dems had said.

Cllr Stewart said his statement meant the council would find a way to restore the heritage buildings to ensure they were restored, and that they were linked considerately with the surrounding park.

He added: “Despite establishment of a cross party working group the Lib-Dem representatives have failed to come up with any solutions.”

He said this had forced him “to step in and give a viable way forward”.

He went on: “We will now engage directly with the community to ensure we have a way forward which protects the heritage properties in the Home Farm depot.”