Objections to Porthcawl seafront compulsory purchase withdrawn

Our planning news is published in association with The Planner, the official magazine of the Royal Town Planning Institute.

Ambitious proposals for the major redevelopment of Porthcawl seafront have made progress now that statutory objections to Bridgend County Borough Council’s compulsory purchase of land in the area have been withdrawn.  

At issue were several locations including the former model village and a site known locally as the monster park. 

These form some of the elements of the wider regeneration of the town, which also includes land at Sandy Bay and Griffin Park, as well as a site now leased by the Welsh Government featuring the town’s Coney Beach amusement park. 

Over the next few years the expectation is that the seafront will be transformed by a mixed-use development involving around 900 homes, a school and a new road system, along with retail, commercial and leisure opportunities.  

Bridgend County Borough Council explained that as the government already held the leasehold interest for the Coney Beach amusement park, this had effectively unlocked the remaining parcels of land required for the regeneration area and meant that the next phase has moved another step closer.  

“The withdrawal of the statutory objections also means that while Planning and Environment Decisions Wales must still deliver a decision on any non-statutory objections it has received, it is no longer necessary to hold a public inquiry into the compulsory purchase orders on land required for the regeneration. 

“The council is now preparing to reveal concept designs for how public open space could look throughout the new coastal park planned at Salt Lake, the extension of Griffin Park, the seafront area at Sandy Bay, the lower part of Hillsboro Place car park and more.” 

5 October 2023 
Roger Milne, The Planner