| The devastation caused to the
Lower Swansea Valley by the density of industry it housed between the early
eighteenth and early twentieth centuries left behind the largest area of
industrial dereliction in Europe. The Lower Swansea Valley Project began
in the early 1960’s with the aim of seeking to reclaim the land. Over
the next twenty years volunteers, local schoolchildren, the Territorial
Army, in fact, the entire community of the area became involved in restoring
the land. The site now houses the South Dock and Maritime Quarter, the Parc
Tawe shopping complex, the Morfa Stadium sports complex, the enterprise
zone industrial park and the riverside cycling trail. Derelict buildings
were cleared, others of historic interest preserved, pollutants cleared
from the ground so that trees could be planted. The Lower Swansea Valley
Project has been a unique collaboration resulting in an area of reclaimed
land that has been utilised by an entire community. |
