FROM EMPTY FIELD TO HOT PROPERTIES
Street’s remarkable transformation
IN the 1930s, the small village of Hendy was home to a community primary school, a corner shop and its industrial ironworks.
Opposite the ironworks lay Bronallt Road, a street that at the time was home to around seven houses and acres of bare fields.
Today, Bronallt Road, which connects the two villages of Hendy and Fforest, accommodates nearly 100 properties including the roads branching off it, with the average house value standing at around the £500,000 mark.
And with almost another 50 properties due to be ready by the end of this year, by a number of different developers, the street is hot property.
Hendy resident Lisa Samuel remembers the street during its more modest era. She said: “I have seen so many changes to the community, especially Bronallt.
“I remember when I was in school, there were only a few houses dotted on the street, the rest was green fields where we used to play.
“I remember a few houses being built and it has just grown over the years.
“Where the mansiontype houses are now there was just fields with an old air raid shelter where we would hide from the rain when we were children.”
Many of the properties on Bronallt Road and Coed y Bronallt boast up to seven bedrooms, some have swimming pools and one even accommodates a football field in the back garden. Current development plans for the area include seven new Greenway Homes Developments and six new three-storey properties from civil engineers Rapid Grid and Graig Development.
These are due to be completed by the end of this year, with a further 34 being constructed in the next two to three years.
Craig Hughes, a director of Graig Development who along with his brother Grant, said: “There will be six new executive homes at the top of Bronallt Road due to be completed by the end of this year.
“We saw an opportunity as it is a very attractive area. There is also easy access to the M4, the local community is appealing and the area is in the middle of amenities such as the Millennium Coastal Path in Llanelli and the Gower (Peninsula).”
And with more land up for sale with a number of interested developers, it seems this desirable street could, in the future, be more of a desirable village.
Bethan Lewis, 23, is a prospective buyer of one of the new Greenway properties and said: “I have always loved the area.
“The houses on the street are quite something.
“I remember when we were young, my friends and I would travel down here just to look at the houses because they were so beautiful.
“Bronallt had quite the reputation and I always dreamt of living here.”
However, longtime and nearby residents of the street do have some concerns over the impact that further development to the area could have.
Tina Thomas, aged 50, a resident of 30 years, said: “I remember when the road was two-way, but the amount of houses that are there now and further development meant that the council had to change the road to be a one-way system.
“Fifty more houses will definitely mean more cars on the road and soon the amazing view may be dominated by buildings and houses.”
Alongside the extravagant houses, the area displays some impressive views overlooking the Loughor estuary and the railway viaduct also known as the Eleven Arches. All but one of the new Greenway properties has already been sold before construction has even begun.
And it seems demand will not be in short supply for any future properties there either.