As you might remember, towards the end of 2021 Bridgend Council unveiled their new “placemaking strategy” for the Porthcawl regeneration area. I’m not going to go through all that again, but it’s available in the link below.
A public consultation was held and the results of that were released to BCBC’s Cabinet this week (pdf).
Around 1,000 members of the public are said to have attended a public exhibition in the town and 142 people formally responded and gave their views on the strategy.
More people supported the strategy (51%) than outright opposed it (18%) – though there were elements that were more popular than others as I’ll turn to next.
What people liked
- The Griffin Park extension and Dock Street extension.
- Pedestrianisation of the Eastern Promenade.
- The proposed multi-storey car park at Hillsboro Place.
- There were comments supportive of new retail opportunities, but only if it was properly connected to the town centre.
What people didn’t like
- There was a general feeling that too many homes are proposed in the regeneration area – though this wasn’t opposition to housing in principle.
- There were general concerns about parking and public transport (even though the new Porthcawl bus station will be at the heart of Salt Lake).
- A sense that the vision lacks leisure facilities for use by locals – particularly young people.
Changes to the strategy
As a result of the consultation, there’ve been some changes to the strategy as it was originally presented.
- The Eastern Promenade will be turned into a linear park with limited vehicle access. The amount of land given over to public open space in the area will be increased as a result.
- Extra open space will be provided alongside the Dock Street extension.
- As a result of the above, the amount of land on Salt Lake earmarked for housing will be cut by a third.
Other than that, the strategy remains largely as it was. Subject to Cabinet approval, BCBC will now proceed with formal business cases, development briefs and further public consultations on some of the details (particularly new public open space).
