Porthcawl
Controlled Assessment
Syllabus relevance: Tourism, Coasts
Porthcawl is a town on the south coast of Wales 25 miles (40 km) west of the capital city, Cardiff and 19 miles (30.5 km) south-east of Swansea. It is situated on a low limestone headland on the South Wales coast, overlooking the Bristol Channel.
Porthcawl developed as a coal port during the 19th century, but its trade declined by the 1920’s.It later developed as a holiday resortand is home to a large caravan site known as Trecco Bay. It has an extensive promenade, a funfairand several sandy beaches.
Porthcawl, like many UK resorts has suffered a decline in its holiday trade over recent years, especially since most of the South Wales coal mines and factories closed. A major feature of the summer used to be‘miners fortnight’ when the coal mines would close and many of the miners would take their annual holiday here. Mobile home
Porthcawl's promenaderuns along the seafront and was restored in 1996. Many cafes, bars, restaurants and hotels are located along the promenade which offers spectacular views across the sea.
Controversial luxury apartments now dominate the seafront on the site of the old Esplanade Hotel. Although award-winning, the architecture has proved unpopular with many local residents who have nicknamed it 'the bottle bank'.
Despite the decline in seaside tourism in the town since the 1980’s of the 2,500 employed in Porthcawl, 700 (35%) worked in tourism in 2013.
Beaches
NewtonBeach to the east of Porthcawl is a long sandy and rocky beach backed by Newton Burrows, a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.
BeacA beach is a geological landform along the shoreline of a body of water. It usually consists of loose particles which are often composed of rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, or cobblestones...Site of Special Scientific InterestA Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based...Ogmore-by-SeaOgmore-by-Sea is a seaside village in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It lies on the western limit of the Glamorgan Heritage Coastline of south Wales....
NewtonBeach and the sand dunes are popular with walkers and horse riders. The beach is popular with windsurfers, jet skiers and power boat users.
TreccoBay is a large, sandy and rocky beach.TreccoBaycaravan park is situated alongside the beach.
Seafront Beach, also known as Town Beach, is a rocky beach in the centre of Porthcawl which was partly tarmacked over in the 1980s to repair sea defences.
Regeneration
Porthcawl waterfront will undergo substantial regeneration as part of the 7 Bays Project. The plan includes the construction of new sea defences, enabling regeneration of the area to take place and also protecting more than 440 existing properties from flood risk.The first phase of regeneration, Porthcawl Harbourside, was launched on 28 March 2008. A 17 acre site has been marketed to developers for a substantial mixed use scheme including new retail space, leisure and community facilities, up to 450 houses/apartments, a new promenade, town square and car parking.
The scheme is one of the largest of its kind in the country.