Swansea Enterprise Park

The Swansea Enterprise Park (Welsh: Parc Anturiaeth Abertawe) is a combined business park, retail park and industrial estate in Swansea, Wales. In 1981 it became the first enterprise zone in the United Kingdom, and the largest.[1][2] Originally it was named the Swansea Enterprise Zone. The designated area covers parts of the Llansamlet and Morriston wards in the Lower Swansea valley, Wales. The Enterprise Park is the largest commercial district and the largest out-of-town shopping district of Swansea. Major employers at the site include Morganite, Alberto-Culver, Viskase, The Land Registry and Welsh Water.[2]

The Swansea Enterprise Park is bounded by the A4067 and the A4217 roads to the west and east; and the South Wales Main Line to the southeast. It includes the Winch Wen industrial estate just east of the A4217; and the area just north of the A48 (Samlet Road) to the east and west of Upper Forest Way. The whole area comprises 735 acres (2.97 km2) of land.[3]

For many years this was a post-industrial wasteland until regeneration in the 1980s. The regeneration has attracted many light industries, offices and in particular retail outlets to Swansea.[4] The Morfa Shopping Park is located adjacent to the enterprise park to the south in Landore and the Swansea Vale regeneration area is located just to the north.

The retail park of the Swansea Enterprise Park was largely unplanned and followed the relaxation of planning controls and local taxes following the area's designation as an enterprise zone.[5] In 1996 a number of local retailers attempted to rebrand the area as the "Swansea Lakeside Shopping Park".[6]

  1. ^ Presenting and Representing Environments. Springer Netherlands. 2006. pp. 89–104. doi:10.1007/1-4020-3814-3_6. ISBN 978-1-4020-3813-6.
  2. ^ a b Swansea Student Information Pack Archived 27 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Tallon, Andrew R.; Bromley, Rosemary D. F.; Thomas, Colin J. (February 2005). "Swansea". Cities. 22 (1): 65–76. doi:10.1016/j.cities.2004.09.001.
  4. ^ City and County of Swansea, Swansea Enterprise Park planning policies Archived 6 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Retailing Archived 11 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "City and County of Swansea - Council Minutes". Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2020.