The Millennium Coastal Park, (MCP) stretches from the county boundary near Lougher Bridge along the coastal strip down to the eastern edge of the Burry Port Harbour area, a distance of around 14km. The main attractions along this stretch of coast are the Wildfowl & Wetlands LLanelli Centre,
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| WWT Llanelli (WWT image) |
However if you visited this area in the 1970's you would seen a mostly heavily industrialised area, nothing like the green oasis that we find today.
Early Industry
Llanelli and the surrounding area grew up and became a place of extreme wealth from the heavy industry and mining over a 200 year period and whilst this brought undeniable benefits to the area, as heavy industry declined it did leave massive scars and industrial dereliction, as has been mentioned elsewhere, the decline was and still is, controversial. However, the facts remain that Llanelli and Burry Port were left with massive industrial plant that no-one wanted.
Sandy Water Park
It was in early 1986 that the demolition and clearing of the old Duport Steelworks began - it had closed after a bitter battle with the loss of 1,100 jobs, 5 yrs earlier.
The demolition brought sadness for many residents; the closure dealt a severe blow to the whole area. However, it was clear that, for political and economic reasons, heavy industry was not going to return.
This location was used to create part of the coastal development to be named Sandy Water Park which involved moving over 2 million tons of materials to create rolling parkland, woodlands, a 6ha lake [the base of which was created using pulverised demolition material] also setting aside areas for housing and commercial use.
The creation of the Water Park took almost 3years to complete and was completed under budget.
The Millennium Coast Park attract 100's of thousands of visitors each year not only from the local area but also holiday makers who contribute to the growing tourism industry in the county. The entire area is easily accessible for all on foot, cycle,wheelchair etc; horse riding however, is not permitted in the park.
Some of the lakes were designed to host coarse angling, however fishing is currently only allowed at the Dyfatty pond near Burry Port, (permit required), and is banned at all the other lakes across the MCP in an effort to control the invasive Top Mouthed Gudgeon.
The lakes can turn up interesing birds especially during winter when Long-tailed Duck can be a surprise visitor along with the more usual Gadwall, Mallard Tufted and Pochard, as we enter spring Sand Martins and Swallows will be present in good numbers feeding of the productive hatch of insects not only from the ponds but also the rough grassland areas.
During the summer there are large areas of grassland left uncut, not to save money but to provide a rich and diverse habitat for many insects and plants, these areas will be cut late in the season.
Refreshments can be found at a number of independent restaurants/cafes along the length of the park along with two childrens play areas
I am grateful to Mr Rod James, a resident of Sandy Water Park, for allowing me use of the well researched information on the history of the park.
Part 3 of this topic will look at Mynydd Mawr Woodland Park
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