Coed Darcy

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Coed Darcy
Coed Darcy (geograph 6359023).jpg
Houses along the Ridgeway (2020)
Neath Port Talbot UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Coed Darcy
Location within Neath Port Talbot
OS grid reference SS715958
Principal area
Preserved county
Country Wales
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town NEATH
Postcode district SA10
Police South Wales
Fire Mid and West Wales
Ambulance Welsh
UK Parliament
Senedd Cymru – Welsh Parliament
List of places
UK
Wales
Neath Port Talbot
51°38′50″N3°51′28″W / 51.64713°N 3.85791°W / 51.64713; -3.85791

Coed Darcy is a new village under development on brownfield land adjacent to Llandarcy in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. Development began in the mid-2000s and was expected to take approximately twenty years. The then Prince Charles visited the site in 2013 after completion of the first phase, but development was paused after fewer than 300 of 4,000 homes had been built, and only an estate at the former refinery entrance has been occupied.

Contents

Historical background

Coed Darcy is being built on brownfield land vacated by a former oil refinery, the Llandarcy Oil Refinery, owned by BP. The first crude oil refinery in the UK, Llandarcy Refinery was constructed between 1918 and 1922 and produced diesel, kerosene and other products. During the post-war period, the refinery underwent large-scale development as demand for products increased to 340,000 tonnes per year, but because of economic changes, its closure was announced in 1997. [1]

Planned development

The planned community of Coed Darcy, within the refinery site, was estimated to cost £1.2 billion and was to comprise 4,000 homes, community facilities, employment space and open space covering 1,300 acres (5.3 km2). Four new schools (1 Welsh primary, 2 English primaries and 1 secondary) were planned. [2] The development proposals include a new southern access road linking the village to the Fabian Way (A483) into Swansea. [3] The village was planned to have an approximate population of 10,000 when complete. [4] Construction was expected to create as many as 4,000 jobs, [4] [5] and to be completed in approximately 20 years, by 2028. [1]

The development was masterplanned by Alan Baxter. [6] The design specification was developed with input from The Prince's Foundation, [2] [7] and the village was to be developed as an urban village in a similar fashion to Poundbury, with the intention of encouraging people to live and work in the same community. [2] [6] [8] The then Prince Charles visited the site in July 2013. [9]

The name of the village (which translates as 'Darcy's Woodland') was suggested by members of Coedffranc Community Council; it combines the first element of the name of the local parish, Coedffranc, and the second element of the name of the neighbouring village of Llandarcy. [10]

On 8 May 2007, it was announced that St. Modwen Properties was appointed as the preferred developer of the site. [11] Reclamation and remediation of the brownfield site under their lead was planned to take seven years. The reclamation work involves removing the remaining oil refinery infrastructure such as pipeworks, buildings and roads, including the draining of a large reservoir at the northern part of the site. The remediation work involves removing contaminated material from the land which was deposited when the refinery was in operation. [1] The site was turned over to St. Modwen in June 2008 after initial land preparation. [12]

The development of the village has not been devoid of controversy. The residents' association of the neighbouring village of Llandarcy were concerned that Coed Darcy might swallow up Llandarcy. [8] Concerns were expressed about the development and the new access road using some green belt land in addition to the brownfield site, and the Countryside Council for Wales was monitoring the development of the village. [8]

Area One

Work started in June 2008 on building the first 150 houses and 58 apartments, on a 10.4 acres (42,000 m2) section of the site at the former refinery main entrance which is designated Area One. The first properties, designed in emulation of oil workers' housing in Llandarcy by Robert Adam, Director at ADAM Architecture, [7] [13] [14] were developed by Edward Ware Homes and Atlantic Properties Plc (Atlantic Ware Developments) with construction being carried out by Dawnus. [15] Area One was marketed as Heritage Gate. [16] By November 2012, 60 houses had been built. [17]

Main site

Construction work on the main site, where 302 houses were to be built in the first of three residential neighbourhoods making up the village, was originally scheduled to start in spring 2011; [4] it began in November 2012. [17]

Cessation of work

Work was subsequently paused for unknown reasons, after 294 homes were built. The main site was never occupied, and the buildings there have deteriorated. [18] [19] STM Brighton Group, a subsidiary of Revantage, performed remediation work at the site and in November 2021 applied for planning permission for 1,800 homes and a small group of shops, with land set aside for a primary school, but no agreement has been reached on how best to develop the site. [19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Brownfield renewal in the South West and Wales region" (PDF). Investor Site Visit - 1st October 2007. St. Modwen Properties PLC. 27 September 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 "Coed Darcy Urban Village". The Prince's Foundation. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  3. ↑ "Coed Darcy gets outline planning permission". WalesOnline. 13 December 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 "Coed Darcy Urban Village Development could create 4000 jobs". Swansea Bay News. 25 February 2011.
  5. ↑ "Village's '4,000 new jobs bonanza'". South Wales Evening Post.[ dead link ]
  6. 1 2 Clive Aslet. Villages of Britain: The Five Hundred Villages that Made the Countryside. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN   9780747588726.
  7. 1 2 Richard John (2010). Robert Adam: The Search for a Modern Classicism. Mulgrave, Victoria: Images. pp. 172–74. ISBN   9781920744540.
  8. 1 2 3 "Land being cleared for Prince's 'eco village'". WalesOnline. 30 November 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  9. ↑ "Prince Charles ends tour of Wales with tea in Prince of Wales pub". BBC News. 5 July 2013.
  10. ↑ "Coed Darcy Name Revealed at Llandarcy Development Exhibition". Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. 8 November 2004. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  11. ↑ "St Modwen Named as Coed Darcy Main Site Preferred Developer" (PDF). The Prince's Foundation. 8 May 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 9 August 2008.
  12. ↑ "Coed Darcy work to begin". WalesOnline. 29 March 2013 [5 June 2008].
  13. ↑ "Residential: New Urban Village At Coed Darcy, South Wales". ADAM Architecture. Archived from the original on 29 July 2010.
  14. ↑ "Projects + Buildings by Robert Adam Architects, UK". e-architect. Archived from the original on 9 July 2009.
  15. ↑ "New Village Rises". South Wales Evening Post. 24 June 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  16. ↑ "Heritage Gate". Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.
  17. 1 2 "Coed Darcy: New community build on ex-BP site starts". BBC News. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  18. ↑ Lois McCarthy (27 January 2026). "The abandoned Welsh village visited by King Charles where no-one has ever lived". WalesOnline.
  19. 1 2 Eleri Griffiths (4 February 2026). "Mystery of abandoned village that could be from post-apocalyptic horror movie". BBC News.
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