Todays guest contributor is the editor of the South Wales Evening Post. Writing in last night's paper, he said:The council leader stood in front of a room full of property developers. Behind him, alluring images of his city, as imagined by artists, shone out. "This is our time," he said. "This is Swansea's time. This is the developers' time."As bids to flog off chunks of public real estate to private developers go, this was a pretty brazen effort. And no apologies should be made for it.
We all know that Swansea has been ridiculed in the past as the city of artists' impressions. The suggestion has been made - too often to be dismissed as coincidence - that developers' visions have foundered on the rocks of planners' intransigence and councillors' parochialism.
So, what is different about the Swansea Strategic Plan launched by Chris Holley at the Dragon Hotel this week? Quite a few things. Take the venue, for a start.
Once, The Dragon was at the heart of the city. That profile has been restored. Outside, The Kingsway is being transformed for a new transport system. Some people dismiss this as a waste of time and money. I think it is essential to turn Swansea into a proper city.
Walk down Princess Way and you pass Thurleigh Estates' redevelopment of David Evans, and the Longford Group's Excelsior hotel and apartments building.
On the shoreline side of Oystermouth Road - to be turned into a "European-style boulevard" in the strategic plan - Earthquake are building Meridian Quay on the marina, Persimmon Homes are at Swansea Point, and a number of companies are working on different projects in SA1.
My point is the developers are already here and delivering results. So, while I understand why Swansea Tourism boss Geoff Haden was yesterday calling for "the biggest incentives possible" to lure developers, I believe there is already a momentum behind the city's regeneration to justify Councillor Holley's optimism about this being Swansea's time.
So perhaps we can dispense with the usual cynicism over this week's launch, which identified some of the city's current weaknesses, and offered them up as golden development opportunities.
The strategic plan for the city centre is part of a jigsaw that includes other strategies for the bay and the river corridor. Together, they show how Swansea could finally begin to exploit its glorious setting. We have a chance here to unite bay and city in a way that Cardiff, for example, cannot match.
