Rail firm holds key to £50m flats scheme

NETWORK Rail holds the key that could unlock a £50m student development opposite Swansea railway station.

It is considering an offer to relocate its parking spaces at Mariner Street car park, where a 72-metre tower including ground floor shops has planning consent, to another one nearby.

Developers are unable to get on site until Network Rail has a made a decision on whether to accept the offer to move to these spaces to High Street car park.

Plans for the scheme, dubbed Icon 21, were unveiled early last year and a planning application by developers RDE Silex and their partner Varsity Halls was approved in June, but there still appears to have been little or no progress.

A spokesman for the Icon 21 development said: “An agreement with Network Rail about their car parking spaces is now with their board for approval.

“Once this approval is in place and the car parking spaces have been relocated, that will enable the arrival of specialist equipment on site to start site investigation works.”

Network Rail said the matter was in hand.

A spokeswoman said: “We are currently considering the proposal and will work closely with Swansea Council and the company behind the scheme to keep the community informed.”

The Icon 21 scheme also includes a smaller accommodation block. When completed, the development would accommodate 725 students.