SLIP BRIDGE WAS SLIP UP

18 July 2005

I would guess that the majority of the Swansea electorate was prepared to give the new council administration a reasonable opportunity to prove itself after having spent the previous 27 years in the wilderness. However, its policy of trying to please everybody has been a disaster during the last 12 months. Opinion as to whether the Slip Bridge should have been restored in its original location or scrapped are subjective, but no one I have spoken to has wanted it on the promenade.

It appears that the council is as out of touch with the electorate as were the French and Dutch governments in the recent European Union referenda.

As a Friend of Oystermouth Castle and the son of a Second World War Merchant Navy engineer, I feel that the cost of moving the bridge, £155,000 including consultation costs of £35,000, would have been better spent in part funding the four-year repair project at the castle, and not waiting six years before providing only £20,000 towards the cost of the Merchant Navy Memorial.

In addition, the Evening Post has published numerous letters from me and other tennis, bowls and netball players, detailing why the proposed change of use of the Swansea Tennis Centre is a ludicrous idea. If the council decides to proceed with this project it must repay the £650,000 owing to the Lawn Tennis Association and lose a £3 million grant from the Sports Council. This new facility will, therefore, become the most expensive in Europe.

Larry Owen
Westwinds
Mumbles
Swansea