Work will take place at the end of this week (November 6th-8th) to enable construction to begin on the multi-million pound redevelopment of Neath Town Centre.
The new look town centre will feature a brand new leisure centre with a swimming pool, gym, health suite and cafe along with a modern library and new retail zone.
The leisure centre and pool plus the library are designed to create a vibrant cultural, sporting and educational attraction which will provide a massive boost in footfall.
The work has been awarded to Kier Construction and hoardings are due to go up on the site early next month.
This weekend in the town centre, Fairfield Way will be permanently closed to traffic, Water Street will become two way and the traffic signals at the junction of Water Street, St Davids Street and the B4434 will be switched on.
The majority of the construction works have already been completed, with the work at the end of this week seeing the final commissioning of the traffic lights.
This will enable the council’s contractors to begin the job of transforming the centre of Neath with the new retail/leisure/library development.
As part of the plans, the current Neath Library building will close and the facility will relocate in to the new, spacious, modern, purpose-built town centre library that will provide the latest digital facilities to keep the community connected.
Cllr Annette Wingrave, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Sustainable Development, said: “The new leisure, retail and library development is likely to attract footfall figures of more than 500,000 per year and will create good conditions to attract retailers to Neath at a time when town centres across the UK are facing extremely challenging times.”
The project (due for completion by April 2022) is part funded by The Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns programme which looks to support area based regeneration projects promoting economic regeneration.
The Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government, Hannah Blythyn said: “Supporting and securing the future of our towns is a priority for the Welsh Government. We are working to better connect our communities and ensure more people access our towns.”
“The regeneration of Neath Town Centre is a prime of example of how we are doing this through the Transforming Towns Initiative and will be the centrepiece of a number of initiatives to drive forward the town and generate a new wave of investment, economic growth and sustainability.”
