It won’t go ahead without funding from the Welsh Government, councillors have been told

10:09, 28 Jan 2026

Swansea Council has applied for funding to re-engineer a stream which can flood and affect nearby properties. Designing the scheme for Brockhole Stream, Mayals, has taken years and it won’t go ahead without Welsh Government funding.

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Bob Fenwick, a senior council officer, said the design and business case process was “difficult” and “long-winded” but that a funding bid had very recently been submitted. He said the project could cost some £5 million to complete.

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Brockhole Stream flows down Clyne Gardens, past Roman Court and The Woodman pub and then under Mumbles Road and onto Swansea beach. A small number of properties on Mumbles Road have been affected by flash-flooding from the stream during particularly heavy rainfall.

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Mr Fenwick, the council’s highways maintenance group leader, said the authority hoped to submit funding bids for two other flood mitigation projects, including West Street in Gorseinon, next year.

He was speaking at a climate change and nature scrutiny panel about flood risk management. The council was responsible for road drains, ditches, streams and some very small rivers, he said, while Natural Resources Wales had flood risk responsibility for larger rivers and marine areas. **Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here

Planning permission for the Brockhole Stream re-engineering project was granted nearly two years ago but the council submitted amended proposals last month to improve the standard of flood protection. It’ll include widening work, a new culvert, and new stone-filled gabions. Some new trash screens will be added, others will be removed.

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In the meantime, council staff have sought to keep the stream flowing efficiently during heavy rain to prevent flooding. Cllr Chris Evans said: “It has made a huge difference this winter.”

Another panel member, Cllr Will Thomas, said a separate scheme completed in Caswell had been welcomed by four stressed householders whose properties had been repeatedly flooded. And Cllr Sara Keeeton said drainage work carried out in West Cross after “terrible flooding” had been very well received by residents there.

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A report before the scrutiny panel said around 20 drainage schemes had been completed by the council over the past year and that extra tankers had enabled tens of thousands of additional road drains to be cleared.

Mr Fenwick said flooded driveways were a private issue for householders, and added: “That’s not easy to explain to people.” But he said the council would help where it could and had installed humps at the end of people’s driveways to prevent flooding from roads.

Providing sandbags was not, according to the panel report, a statutory duty. Mr Fenwick said councillors had been able to apply for sandbags as a one-off a while back and that more could be provided for a small charge. He added that residents could collect sandbags from a council stockpile if they were desperate.

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Cllr Michael Locke asked what the council was doing about a national shortage of drainage engineers. Mr Fenwick said it was a good question and that councils poached them from one another, which wasn’t ideal.

He said the council would be offering lectures about flood risk management to third-year Swansea University students and talking about the job security and satisfaction aspects of working with the authority, although he acknowledged that the private sector could offer graduates more money.