Neath Port Talbot Council’s Planning Committee has granted Persimmon Homes West Wales conditional planning permission to build 137 homes on the site of the former Afan Lido Leisure Centre on the Aberavon Seafront.

The development on the spectacular beach front location will include two, three and four-bedroom houses as well as a range of two-bedroom flats.

The Afan Lido Leisure Centre, officially opened by The Queen, was burned down by a fire in 2009 and the prime site has been unused since then.

Over the past two decades, Neath Port Talbot Council has been undertaking a major regeneration of the Aberavon Seafront with millions of pounds having been spent on new attractions, the upgrading of public facilities and developments such as the Afan Lido replacement, the Aberavon Leisure and Fitness Centre.

The 3.1 hectare development will front onto Aberavon Beach and Princess Margaret Way, which is the main route along the popular seafront.

The site is owned by Neath Port Talbot Council and the planning application by Persimmon was a result of the council’s procurement exercise in which developers were invited to bid for a development opportunity on the Aberavon Seafront.

The council considered the site would provide an excellent opportunity for a developer to enhance the regeneration of the seafront.

Cllr Annette Wingrave, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Sustainable Development, said:

“This is a really exciting development in one of our most attractive locations.

“The development of the site for residential use will have the twin benefit of delivering much-needed new housing which will not only visually enhance this end of the seafront, it will also bring more people to live in the area, adding to its vitality and providing more footfall to existing businesses there.”

The Planning Committee granted the go ahead for the scheme, with a number of conditions, at its meeting on August 31st, 2021.