Another new attraction is on its way to the
Aberavon Seafront. North Valley leisure is
to develop a multiuse site with an adventure
putting golf course as its main attraction.
The one acre site is located next to the
Aquasplash on the western side of the
promenade which has been earmarked for an
outdoor leisure activity by Neath Port
Talbot Council, who own the land.
The company want to build the putting course
with either a nautical or pirate theme.
Talks are underway and it is hoped work can
start before the end of the year ready to
open next summer.
It will then be an all year round attraction
adding to the many facilities already in
place along the seafront.
Neath Port Talbot Council is committed to
reviving Aberavon Beach and in recent years
has invested considerable amounts of money
making it more attractive for residents and
visitors alike.
Welcoming the news, Council Leader, Derek
Vaughan, said, "This will be another popular
attraction which will help us take the
seafront into the 21st century.
"We are determined Aberavon Beach should
once again attract thousands of visitors who
can enjoy the recently awarded blue flag
beach.
Beach festival
ABERAVON’S ninth
annual Beach Festival has just taken place on
Saturday, July 12.
Organised with the
help of the New Sandfields Aberavon
programme, the festival will also included
various musical acts and a fun fair.
Blue Flag for
Aberavon Beach
IT WAS once the
place where steelworkers and miners flocked
annually in their thousands to forget the
rolling- mill heat and the darkness of the pits.
For a fortnight they dozed next to their
families on towels or rested in striped
deckchairs with an ice cream in hand as their
children tried to hold back the sea on castles
made of sand.
But now Aberavon
Beach – nestling in the shadow of the imposing
steelworks – has finally claimed its place among
the seafront elite. Following a
multi-million-pound facelift, and for the first
time since the International Blue Flag Awards
began in France 23 years ago, Port Talbot’s
three-mile stretch of golden sands has picked up
one of the coveted awards. A total of 42 Welsh
beaches and five marinas have been included in
the list of Blue Flag locations, alongside
exotic hotspots in places such as South Africa,
the Caribbean, Canada and New Zealand. They are
being recognised today for having met the strict
bathing water and beach criteria required to
achieve Blue Flag status.
When cheap
packages to Spain became all the rage, the days
when Aberavon’s sands were thronging with candy
floss-wielding youngsters and busloads of
visitors from the Valleys became a distant
memory. Rust set in on the Miami beach
fairground. But in a major turnaround the site
has now been redeveloped as a modern housing
estate with homes enjoying panoramic Swansea Bay
views. The beach front has been rebuilt with a
piazza, skate park and adventure playground.
Surfers flock to
the east end of the beach where breakers have
not been affected by a new beach regime and sand
yachters keep to the west. A six-screen Apollo
Cinema was opened near the seafront in 1998,
historic problems with sewage were solved by a
modern Swansea Bay treatment plant and, with new
catering facilities, the seafront is once again
an attraction.
Aberavon Beach is
one of three Welsh locations making their first
appearance on the list. The other first time
“Blue Flaggers” are Church Bay on Anglesey –
which boasts the last thatched cottage on the
island – and stunning Newport Beach in
Pembrokeshire, overlooked by a Norman castle.
Beaches are
judged against a total of 29 criteria including
water quality, good litter management, provision
of information, dog controls and sustainable
environmental management.
Marinas have to
meet 16 land-based criteria, including reception
facilities for hazardous waste, adequate
lifesaving equipment and safeguarding their
local environment. The award is managed in
Wales, on behalf of the Denmark-based Foundation
for Environmental Education, by Keep Wales Tidy.
Its chief executive, Tegryn Jones, said: “Much
has been achieved by local authorities and Welsh
Water in improving the quality of our bathing
water and upgrading infrastructure but we have
some way to go before every beach and marina in
Wales can claim to be clean and safe. “We now
appeal to the public to make their contribution
by ensuring they leave nothing but footprints on
our 750-mile coastline.”
Recognising the
changes made at Aberavon, Assembly Environment
Minister Jane Davidson will announce the awards
there this morning. She will say, in a prepared
speech: “I am delighted to be able to announce
this first blue flag award for Aberavon Beach,
which is testament to the regeneration work by
Neath Port Talbot Council.
May 22 2008
by Robin Turner, Western Mail
Dead whale probably ‘starved’
