“I love it here, there's a real community feel – but I’ve lived here 10 years now and the school was meant to be built before my daughter turned three. She’s now seven and there’s still no sign of it.”
That’s what Coed Darcy resident Rhianna Pridham tells us when we ask what her thoughts are on the village she calls home. A decade ago, Rhianna and her husband were looking for the perfect place to start a family – and said they were “sold the whole dream” of Coed Darcy as a future thriving village with schools, parks and all the community facilities they could need, right on their doorstep. But after 10 years living there, they’re still waiting for the schools and community spaces to come to fruition.
Twenty years ago, land remediation works began at the site of a former oil refinery, the Llandarcy Oil Refinery owned by BP, next to Llandarcy village in Neath Port Talbot. The oil refinery had been the first crude oil refinery in the UK and had been in operation from around 1922 to 1997, before it was closed down and lay dormant for several years. For the latest Neath Port Talbot news, sign up to our newsletter here
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Plans had been submitted to transform the empty land on the edge of popular Llandarcy village into a thriving village community of its own right, Coed Darcy, which was set to be modelled on the then-Prince Charles’ well-regarded urban development of Poundbury in Dorset. After five years of environmental remediation works, essentially removing pollution, chemicals and any hazards left over from when the land was used as an oil refinery, construction works began building the village itself.
Initial approved plans for the village included the building of 4,000 homes, four schools (one Welsh-language primary school, two English-language primary schools, and a secondary school), a doctors surgery, community hall, library, sports facilities and 500,000 square feet of “employment space”. Coed Darcy was set to be a special ‘15-minute neighbourhood,’ and a sort of ‘eco village’ rising from the ashes of a previously polluted petro-chemicals site, at the meagre cost of £1.2billion! But it was hoped the quality of life and the sense of community it would create would be priceless.
But over the course of 10 years, from the time developer St Modwen began working on the site in 2009 until 2019, only 300 homes had been built – and many of them were empty. In a Neath Port Talbot Council meeting at the time, it was said that work had stalled for several years but was set to restart again – though it was later delayed again due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
Then, in June, 2020, Neath Port Talbot Council gave St Modwen permission to expand Coed Darcy and new dates were set for the opening of the new schools. A two-form entry primary school (ie. two classes per year group) was scheduled to be built and ready for use by September, 2023, or by the time 740 homes had become occupied, whichever was earlier, with another two-form entry primary school set to be built prior to the occupation of 1,500 further homes a few years later.
At the time, a council meeting heard that planning officers had been discussing the development with St Modwen “for some time” regarding financial concerns and that the delivery of the project would still take “many years”. Plaid Cymru councillor Alun Llewelyn said there had been “major challenges” to the development since it began, including the 2008 financial crisis, and said new plans had been proposed to change the number of schools from four to three, and had also proposed a decrease in the percentage of affordable housing provision at the site from 20% to 15%.
“I think the revised proposal is needed to make progress and begin delivering the promised amenities to the community but there is a need for the developers to keep to these commitments,” Cllr Lewelyn said at the time. Coedffranc West councillor Helen Ceri Clarke agreed, adding: “When they initially put the plan in years and years ago the economy was in a different position than it is now. I’m pleased that we’ve finally got dates on schools and there’s action on the shop coming in…I’m pleased it’s moving forward. I know the residents will be over the moon when they start building that school.”
Unfortunately, as we all know too well, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted building works and businesses across Wales and beyond. With pandemic restrictions, St Modwen had to pause its development works at the site, whilst another development company which planned on building more than 100 homes at Coed Darcy, the Jehu Group, went into administration and had to pull-out from its planned work at the site.
In July, 2021, mid-pandemic, St Modwen shared a new vison for the next phase of Coed Darcy and confirmed it aimed to build 2,000 of the 4,000 planned total homes, adding that it had new plans for walking and cycle routes at the site and a metro station linking the estate to the proposed Swansea Bay Metro Network.
Residents told WalesOnline at the time that there was high demand for a shop on the estate – demand that is still there today. During our visit to Coed Darcy in 2021, resident James Dewitt said: “It is a lovely community here. I do love living here… but we haven’t had any of the other facilities that were promised. We were supposed to have a medical centre and a shop… and we haven’t had any of them.”
"In the short term what we probably need the most is a shop because the infrastructure here was built with walking in mind,” he added. “So there isn’t enough parking, which would be okay but you kind of need cars because we don’t have the facilities we were supposed to be able to walk to.
"There are adequate doctors in Skewen but there is nowhere near enough parking and we have to drive because there isn’t one nearby. It’s not like we aren’t getting medical care but we aren’t getting the convenient local walkable medical care that we were expecting. It isn’t as convenient and local as we were hoping."
Mr Dewitt added that the nearest primary school, Crymlyn Primary School, provided good quality education but said the building was “ageing” and appeared to be reaching maximum capacity, so he and other residents were eager to know if/when the planned primary schools would be built at Coed Darcy. "We just want to know what’s happening so we can make plans with our families. The uncertainty is one of the most frustrating things,” he said at the time.
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By February, 2022, St Modwen had tweaked its plans further – and had approached Neath Port Talbot Council for permission to expand the Coed Darcy development and build commercial and employment units. At the time, managing director of major projects at St. Modwen, Rob Williams, said: "The pandemic has changed the way people think about their living space, community areas, and the importance of work-life balance.
"Our new master plan focuses on the principles of creating a ‘15-minute neighbourhood’, with the community able to access many daily needs within a short distance of their homes."
The pretty Welsh hamlet no-one has ever lived in
In 2019 we reported on a pretty Welsh hamlet at Llandarcy that had never been lived in. It had streets, something that looked like it could be a little school or community hall and some ponds.
The houses were built on the site of the old oil refinery in 2013, with traditional Welsh stone and using cutting-edge construction techniques. They were designed as a showcase for what was to come. But six years later they stood empty with no infrastructure linked to them.
Tom Gough, from St Modwen, said at the time: "The buildings were constructed to test design and building techniques and used to showcase new ways of constructing homes. They were built much earlier than you would usually do as test homes and they are sat there ready to be occupied. What isn’t in place is the infrastructure like roads, which would usually be in place first.
Asked whether they would ever be lived in, he responded: "Our intention is that the dwellings will eventually be utilised as part of the wider scheme."
Developers carried out a consultation with members of the community and asked them to share their views on the masterplan and what they’d like to see at Coed Darcy. “Some of the most common requests from the community so far have included pedestrian and cycle routes, a café, a shop, a community hub, green spaces and more on-site activities. We are committed to delivering all of these aspects as part of the masterplan over the next few years," developers said.
It’s now been 18 months since this consultation – and it appears residents are no closer to seeing these facilities they want, and the local schools they need for their families. During our most recent visit to Coed Darcy in late October, 2023, some streets in Coed Darcy looked well-looked after, with perfectly manicured gardens and gorgeous houses – aside from the terrifying Halloween decorations – whilst others looked rather unfinished.
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Whilst barriers fenced-off some areas of the village for development, no construction work was actually taking place – which one resident was torn over. Whilst the resident said he was pleased not to have the loud noise of construction work and machinery, he said he'd rather see new houses built than the view of fencing on a tired, muddy field.
“Originally, the village was meant to be a mixture of three, four and five-bedroom homes there [the field near my home]. I was hoping they’d be nice houses but we’ve heard they’re going to be affordable homes now, which I’m not 100% happy about as I worry that will de-value my house,” the resident said. “It’s a nice area here, everyone looks out for each other and as far as I’m aware the planning for schools were approved, but they’ve just not been built yet.”
“There’s no shop here – it’s two and a half miles to the nearest shop! You can’t just pop over if you run out of milk or something, it’s really inconvenient,” added fellow Coed Darcy resident Sian Owen. Sian and her husband Ricky moved to Coed Darcy from Llansamlet six months ago, looking for a pleasant and affordable family home for them and their two children, aged seven and 10. They praised the sense of community and the local parks, but were keen to see some more facilities open up.
“There’s some nice parks for the kids, and we’re happy for them to go on their own – it’s safe and the parks are so close by. The children go to school in Llansamlet which isn’t far but it would be more convenient to have schools here, and we need a shop! There’s talk of a coffee shop as well, but we’ve not really been told what’s happening with that. And we could do with more parking!”
“But, overall, we love it here. In the summer in the park, they put on a Fun Day for the kids with a bouncy castle – people from the community arranged it. It was brilliant – we love that there’s things going on, but we do need some more facilities.”
“We’ve been living here since May, it’s been good so far,” added another resident. “We’ve got the park – I’ve got two young children, aged six and 10 so that’s perfect for them. There’s been talk of a drive-thru, a Starbucks, but we don’t really know when or if that will happen. There’s no shops here but that doesn’t really bother me as I’m used to that [from where I’ve lived before].”
This sentiment was echoed by another resident who moved to the village just two months ago. “I moved here to be near family and because I liked the sound of the community,” the resident said. “A shop would definitely be handy, and a pub would be good – but there is one nearby at The Pavilion [in Llandarcy].”
What does St Modwen say?
We asked St Modwen for an update on what was happening at Coed Darcy and what was next for construction works. The company noted that it submitted a planning application to Neath Port Talbot Council in November, 2021, and said its new “masterplan,” for 1,800 homes, new shops and facilities and land for a new school was currently being considered by the council.
A spokesperson for St. Modwen said: “Following consultation with the local community, our planning application for Coed Darcy focuses on creating an innovative and sustainable neighbourhood, including the provision of 1,800 low-carbon and sustainable homes, extensive green spaces, new shops and community facilities, as well as land for a new school. We hope the council will approve the plans which would allow construction of the new homes and community facilities to begin in 2025.”
