Plans for a major tourism project in Swansea have been criticised by the owner of Welsh adrenaline attraction venture, Zip World. Founder of the Conwy-based firm, Sean Taylor, believes the zip wire and cable car attraction at the city's Kilvey Hill should have been subject to a competitive tendering process for other firms to bid.
Swansea Council, which is working with New Zealand company Skyline Enterprises - the firm behind the plans - said the scheme was proposed by Skyline and is not in breach of any procurement rules.
However, Mr Taylor said: “Why wasn’t there a tender where Welsh companies could have got involved in this? I’m not against competition, but there has been no tender process for the proposal. No opportunity for Zip World to put their name in. All I want is a level-playing field. We might not have had it but we never even had an opportunity.
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“It’s not as if we’re a small business either. Our brand is known throughout the world. We’ve got five sites across Wales and attract over a million visitors into the country. The proposal should have gone to tendering, not just my business but any business in the UK. There’s been no tender at all and no procurement.”
A spokesperson for Swansea Council said: “What’s being proposed by Skyline is neither a public works contract nor is it a development agreement, so procurement rules don’t apply. The council is viewing this as a potential land transaction within the scope of the council’s land transaction procedure rules. These rules permit negotiations with one party without any form of competition.
“No other company has approached the council about delivering the type of facility being proposed by Skyline, although we welcome discussions with any company or organisation that wants to invest in Swansea.”
The attraction at Swansea's Kilvey Hill is proposed to include a cable car and chair lift system, luge runs, a sky swing, walking trails, a zipline, and food and drink offerings. The cable car system would run to the tip of Kilvey Hill from the area of the Hafod Morfa Copperworks.
Mr Taylor said the case for a competitive tender would be even stronger if the project receives financial support or land from the public sector.
When asked what financial support and land is being offered as part of the proposed scheme, the council said: “No financial support has been provided by Swansea Council to Skyline to date, although discussions with the company are at an advanced stage.
“Discussions are also continuing with a number of private and public landowners in the area, and any acquisition or commercial arrangements will be dependent on a Skyline decision about proceeding with the project.”
Zip World opened its Tower Colliery site in the Cynon Valley in 2021. It is the fourth site opened by the north Welsh firm and its first in south Wales.
The Tower site was made possible in part as a result of a £4.4m loan from the City Deal - funded by the UK and Welsh governments - from the Cardiff Capital Region and repayable over five years.
When asked if Zip World’s funding and land for the Tower site should also have come under the remit of public procurement, Mr Taylor said: “Tower Colliery is private land which doesn’t have to go out to tender. It goes to the highest bidder. We received a loan from the City Deal which we’re paying back in line with commercial rates.
"We’ve spent our own money on the Tower site which the City Deal helped partly fund. We spent millions of pounds in Tower which is a deprived and tough business for us to do down there and I don’t see why my taxpayers money should go into something that will potentially challenge me somewhere down the road which I didn’t even have the opportunity to be involved in.”
Opportunities will be available in early spring this year for people to give their feedback on the Kilvey Hill leisure destination, with representatives of Skyline Enterprises visiting the city in March to hold a series of consultation events in the local community as part of the planning process.
Swansea Council said further opportunities for public views would also then be available as part of Skyline's planning application submission later in 2023, should it decide to take their plans forward.
If successful, the council said the project could create around 100 jobs for the city and boost the city's local tourism economy by attracting an estimated 450,000 visitors a year.
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