PLANS for an indoor skate park whose creator said would be an asset for the whole of Swansea have been turned down.
Adam Williams, of Ramps Skatepark, said the decision by Swansea Council planning officers would be appealed.
Ramps Skatepark announced in February this year that it would be moving from its home in Llanelli to a vacant unit in Swansea West Industrial Park, Fforestfach.
Planning permission was submitted by a company called EPS Construction Ltd to change the use of the unit from its existing industrial use to indoor skate park and storage.
In the meantime, work got under way to create the new indoor skate park, plus a skateboard and scooter shop.
Mr Williams said it was close to being completed.
“We are seeing this is as a big asset for the community and the whole of Swansea,” he said.
But the change of use refusal is an obstacle.
Swansea planning officers said the applicants had not provided evidence that they’d researched properties in the city centre, where leisure uses should be focused.
They also said evidence hadn’t been provided to show the unit had been marketed for sale or rent with its existing class of use.
Officers concluded that the change of use would reduce the number of industrial units within an established industrial area, to the detriment of its overall function.
But there was no objection on highways grounds, provided that bike storage would be provided.
There was one objection to the application from a company based near the vacant unit, which said, among other things, that a soft play area proposed there was turned down in 2019.
Swansea has an indoor skate facility, Exist Skatepark, in Mount Pleasant, with various outdoor skate equipment in other parts of the county.
A state-of-the-art skate park planned by the seafront at West Cross is facing a delay due to legal proceedings brought by a group of residents against Swansea Council. The residents claim the council’s decision to transfer the land to facilitate the skate park was unlawful.
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