Projects & Activity
Community Led Sustainable Tourism
The currently ongoing Community Led Sustainable Tourism Project aims to promote sustainable tourism in South West Wales by simplifying travel options, creating enticing sustainable tourism journeys, and empowering local communities. Through collaborative efforts, and the production of a comprehensive guide, this project will make it easy and inviting for visitors to explore the region without relying on cars.
Historic Railway Project
This ongoing community engagement project seeks to connect heritage and history groups with the railway. Currently we have visited and involved interested parties across Swansea, Llanelli and Haverfordwest. We are running informal group meetings where people are invited to to share memories of their local stations and to explore how we can better showcase the rich history of South West Wales’ railway.
Joy of the Journey
We’re currently engaging with community groups and collaborating with Transport for Wales to take people for days out on the train. This ongoing project aims to tackle loneliness, isolation and to build confidence around using the railway.
Community Changemakers Fund
South West Wales Connected Community Rail Partnership’s Community Changemakers Fund is a community grant fund to support communities along the railway line to make change happen in their local places. As of 2023, we’ve run the changemakers fund three times and have supported over 60 projects in total.
Swansea Station Planters
Following a Shared Vision Meeting centered around Swansea Station, South West Wales Connected collaborated with artist Owen Griffiths to create a colourful array of planters, benches and insect habitats. The planters reflect a keen interest in improving biodiversity at stations, using plants found local to the area.
Swansea Station Mural
This 90ft long, 10ft high mural at Swansea Station is a result of feedback from our Swansea Shared Vision Meeting. The design concepts involved community organisations across Swansea, ultimately becoming a design representing Swansea’s past, present and future. Fresh Creative Co. artists David Long and Twm Williams made the mural a reality.
Shared Vision Meetings
Our strategy involves hosting Shared Vision Meetings in communities around train stations in the region, bringing local people together to co-create a shared vision and set of priorities for improving their communities. We take the ideas and perspectives from the community and see what we can do to make them a reality.
Station Walks
South West Wales is a beautiful region with picturesque sites that can be accessed easily by rail. We have previously partnered with Ramblers Cymru to deliver walking routes each station across our region has to offer.
Ramble & Scramble Walks
We teamed up with Heart of Wales Line, Ramblers Cymru and illustrator Arry Cain to create three colourful maps for children and families to follow. Explore with Ramble and Scramble and discover fascinating facts about Burry Port, Llanelli, Fishguard & Goodwick and Pontarddulais.
Station Welcome Banners
Our “Welcome Banners” project is an initiative to engage communities in creating a distinctive local “welcome” for visitors arriving by rail, to celebrate the things we love about our local places and to ensure visitors discover some of the “hidden gems” that local people appreciate.
Milford Station in Minecraft
Inspired by a similar project in Cardiff, and working with Technocamps at Swansea University, we formed a partnership with Milford Haven School to get the kids designing a new tbuilding for Milford Station using Minecraft Education, which is a 3D modelling software freely available to all children in Wales.
Milford Haven Shipping Containers
Major investment is planned for Milford Haven Train Station, but in the short term there was an immediate need for improved station facilities. Could a series of converted “shipping containers” be a solution? We explored the potential of this with Amey, Transport for Wales and other partners to see what could be done.