About Gorseinon

Gorseinon is a district town in Swansea, Wales, near the Loughor estuary. It was a small village until the late 19th century when it grew around the coal mining and tinplate industries. It is situated in the north west of Swansea City Centre, around 6 miles (9.7 km) north west of the city centre. Gorseinon is also a local Government community with its own elected town council.

The population of the Gorseinon town council area in the 2011 Census is 8,693. However, the ONS defines an area called the Gorseinon Urban Area which comprises all of the continuous built up area in and around Gorseinon. This area includes Gorseinon, Loughor, Garden Village and Penllergaer and has a population of 20,581.

Economy

Gorseinon has a busy high street area in the centre of the town. The other major areas of employment are the nearby Garngoch Industrial estate, in Penllergaer, Gorseinon Business Park and Kingsbridge Business Park. Previously, the nearby Bryngwyn steel works and Valeo plant were major employers in the town, however they closed in the 1990s. In response to the closures, the National Assembly for Wales set up the Gorseinon Regeneration Strategy to invest in a number of regeneration schemes in the town.

The Canolfan Gorseinon Centre was built on the old Bryngwyn Steel Works and is a charity run, community based centre. This state-of-the-art building is home to the Gorseinon Development Trust and plays host to a number of local charities and organisations, such as

Gorseinon Food Bank
Musicality - Academy of Performing Arts
Gorseinon Food Festival
Gorseinon Community Cinema
Gorseinon Players

Recently Asda was granted permission to build a store in the town, which opened in September 2010. This has been a success for the people of Gorseinon and has resulted in many local charities and groups getting a grant from Asda funds.

Gorseinon Development Trust is a locally run charity that make voluntary decisions on issues such as car parking, business, litter, historic areas, tourism and parks in the area of Gorseinon. The Gorseinon Development Trust operates from the Canolfan Gorseinon Centre.

Sport and leisure

Gorseinon's local rugby team is Gorseinon RFC while Garden Village FC of the Welsh Football League play on the outskirts of the town in Kingsbridge, Gorseinon Cricket Club who play in the South Wales Cricket association, also Gorseinon Inline Hockey Club who play in BIPHA South Wales. Gorseinon hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1980. The most notable sporting achievement within Gorseinon in recent years is that Welsh Rugby superstar Leigh Halfpenny was born and bred here. He attended Pontybrenin Primary School and Penyrheol Comprehensive School.

Education

Gorseinon has a range of Education and childcare settings. Gorseinon Nursery is the main nursery for children within the catchment area. Gorseinon Infants and Junior School are the two separate schools providing education to children before they go to the local Secondary School. From September 2012, Gorseinon Nursery, Infants and Junior will become Gorseinon Primary School in an effort to unite education provision in the area.

Penyrheol Comprehensive School is where 90% of 11-16 year old pupils within the catchment area go. The school suffered a major arson attack in 2006 and as a result most of the school pupils lost GCSE coursework. Alan Tootill, the Headteacher has worker hard with City and County of Swansea Council to rebuild the school. In 2010, the new school building was opened after a £9 Million rebuild.

Additionally the town is home to one campus of Gower College Swansea, a tertiary college that provides further education and adult learning.

Transportation

Gorseinon bus station is located just off West Street in the town centre. Bus services are provided by First Cymru with services to the surrounding villages and to Llanelli and Swansea city centre. The bus station was rebuilt making an improvement to the area. The town lost its train service in 1964 under the Beeching Axe.

The primary route through Gorseinon is the A4240 road which crosses the town centre as High Street and Alexandra Road. The A4240 connects Gorseinon with Llanelli to the west; and Penllergaer and the M4 Motorway (Junction 47) to the east.