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| Swansea University has ambitious expansion plans that could be worth £3billion to the economy of south west Wales (Pic: ITV Wales Blog) |
There are fewer more instantly recognisable lists of towns and cities in the World than the English Premier League. Defying everybody's expectations, the first Welsh club to get there wasn't from the capital, but the sidekick, less than an hour down the M4. The ultimate act of sporting one-upmanship that brought scenes of unbridled joy to Swansea City fans all over while those of Cardiff City focus intently on more "what ifs" and another season in an increasingly competitive Championship.
Unfortunately, Swansea has a big inferiority complex. It's not any politicians fault that High Street is one of the worst gateways to a city centre in the UK, or that brutalist architecture dominates the skyline. The Luftwaffe should shoulder the blame for that. Swansea has never really taken to the "city" designation mentally. This can be endearing, and foster a greater sense of community, but the moaning, like that of Swansea Council's leader, Chris Holley, in a letter to Vince Cable last year (one of the most cringe-worthy incidents by an elected official in Wales in the last decade) do little but strengthen the impression that Swansea has a big chip on its shoulder. Wales is guilty of this in general at a UK level as well.
The rivalry between Cardiff and Swansea should be a driving force for good, not enmity or jealousy. Although more dependent on big public sector employers, and still vulnerable to UK government cuts, Swansea is establishing itself as a city of brains. Swansea University is in the early stages of a new £400million campus development in partnership with BP and the Welsh Government, which will house its engineering, scientific and technical departments. It's claimed the development would be worth up to £3billion to the local economy.
In the last week, university spin-out company Haemair announced additional funding from the Welsh Government for the continued development of artificial lungs due for clinical trials in the next two years. This follows in the footsteps of other successful Swansea-based technology companies like lighting specialists Photonstar (formerly Enfis), Acuitas Medical, Allerna Therapeutics and IT companies like Small Planet Technology. They're starting small, but there's no reason they couldn't grow given the right conditions.
Swansea's natural city-region hinterland is huge, encompassing both its urban neighbour Neath Port Talbot as well as Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and southern parts of Ceredigion and Powys. It may be mostly rural, but the population must be pushing 700,000+. Taking advantage of these large hinterlands is a challenge Swansea, Cardiff - and to a lesser extent Newport and Wrexham - need to rise to in order to fulfill their potential.
Cardiff is using its capital status in a different way. The Porth Teigr development in Cardiff Bay hopes to make Cardiff a hub of media and creative industries - one of the sectors listed in the Economic Renewal Plan for special focus. A strong financial, property and legal services base is beginning to find a home there too - with work on Admiral Group's new HQ imminent and expansions by the likes of Capital Law, New Law and Hugh James. Property developers like JR Smart are transforming the capital's skyline. The best part is all these companies are Welsh and don't lack ambition or risk-taking. Wales is finally developing the indigenous enterprises we need to push forward into the economic big time. For the foreseeable future, most of these sorts of companies will come from, or base themselves in, Cardiff.
I've been to both Swansea and Cardiff over the summer on (rare) sunny days. Both cities have different feels about them. Cardiff is confident, moneyed but a little bit bland and lacking definition. It feels like a American-inspired 20th century boom city like Portland or Seattle rather than a European capital.
Swansea definitely feels more "Welsh" in a south Wales sense, but were it not for the poor state of the pavement, my walk up Walter Road could easily have been San Francisco while the beach area felt stereotypically southern California - spoiled only by poor seafront architecture. I'd even go far as to argue that Swansea's dock redevelopment trumps Cardiff's. It all felt a bit more organic and coherent. Then again everything looks good in the sun!
Make no mistake, with enough will, planning and determination, Swansea will be able to look Cardiff in the eye confidently at all levels and a lot sooner than people think.
Cardiff is a cracking city - shame about the lack of character. If the people of Cardiff/Barry/Newport spoke with a Pontypridd accent it would be so much easier to create a cohesive city region and our national movement would be much stronger!
ReplyDeleteThe lack of distinctive Welshness in our cities (outside parts of Swansea) is one of the things I dislike the most about Wales.
Sensible argument about our two main cities complementing each other for the good of Wales. Just a few points.
ReplyDeleteThis concept of 'Cardiff and the Valleys' is only going to work when Valleys people accept defeat and recognise that their communities are now no more than dormitory areas for Cardiff.
Swansea's conurbation is the more obvious, contiguous and already integrated Bay plus Llanelli. People in Pembrokeshire may support the Swans but it's going too far to suggest that the county is part of Swansea's city-region.
This being so I was surprised to read in the recent stories about local TV that Cardiff's bid covers the Valleys plus Newport and Bridgend (thereby boosting the number of potential viewers), while Swansea's bid excludes Neath and Port Talbot (doing the opposite). Who drew up these plans?
It may be all well and good for the south to have competing cities, but further north we don't have a single one. Which explains why so much of the economic life is controlled from, and so much Welsh money spent in, Chester and Shrewsbury.
The Welsh Government therefore has to build up Wrecsam as the retail and administrative centre for this large area, leaving Aberystwyth, Bangor and perhaps a couple of other towns as sub-regional centres.
What about the conurbation that stretches from Pontyclun to Church Village/Treforest? Southern RCT is the natural bridge between Cardiff and the Valleys. It's an up and coming area, plus rents are lower here and it has good access to the M4. I get the impression that most people in RCT and increasingly north/western Cardiff would rather live/work here than most places in Cardiff.
ReplyDeleteThe problem, I suggest, Anon, is that the 'conurbation' you advocate lacks a 'heart' or a natural focus to compare with Swansea and Cardiff.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments.
ReplyDeleteAnon 03:32 - I wish that there was a bit more pride in our cities Welshness, I don't think that means the cities need to lose their individual identity and qualities either. Come to think of it, that's a part of Welshness. A willingness to assimilate to our detriment combined with tribalism.
Jac - There is a reluctance to accept that jobs aren't going to plonk themselves on valley doorsteps anymore. Saying that people there might have to travel beyond the M4 to work is tantamount to human rights abuse apparantly.
I agree that including Pembrokeshire in Swansea's city region is stretching things a bit, but Swansea should be the major city and service centre for that region. To a certain extent it is, with Aberystwyth, Haverfordwest, Llanelli, Carmarthen etc playing important sub regional roles as you suggest.
Regarding North Wales, I'd probably put Llandudno down as a potential "capital". Pretty much equidistant from everywhere, home to the Assembly building and an important sub-regional centre. I just wish more development, especially housing, were focused on larger settlements like Bangor, Wrexham etc. that can cope with it instead of villages.
When you consider the number of jobs on this side of the border in NE Wales then you can argue that Wrexham/Flintshire is at least as important to the Welsh economy as Newport, if not more so.
Anon 12:06 & Jac - I'll be posting something related to the lower RCT area in the next few days.
That is a problem at the moment Jac but it seems that an Australian firm has seen the potential
ReplyDeletehttp://www.walesonline.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/2011/06/21/200m-talbot-green-development-to-create-1-900-jobs-91466-28910814/