Plans for a huge surf facility in Snowden, north Wales have been given the go-ahead after gaining unanimous consent from Conwy County Borough councillors.
To be built in Conwy Valley on the site of a former aluminium factory, Surf Snowdonia will feature a 30,000sq m (322,000sq ft) Wavegarden lake, 14,000sq m (150,000sq ft) wakeboarding lake, waterslide, restaurant, retail and indoor play facilities.
The attraction will also include accommodation, with low impact, sleeping ‘pods’ to be located along the lake’s waterfront. Larger lodges will also be built and will retain the naturalistic character of the woodlands surrounding the lake.
Surf Snowdonia is planned to open in June 2015 and is being run by Conwy Adventure Leisure. It is expected the project will create 100 new jobs in the village of Dolgarrog, with work scheduled to start later this month.
“The outcome of the planning meeting marks the guarantee that the Conwy Valley will indeed play host to the world’s first commercial Wavegarden surfing park, and we can’t wait to move forward with construction as swiftly as possible,” said a Surf Snowdonia statement. “We wish to repay the confidence placed in us by the local community by being as careful and considerate of their needs as we can be throughout the construction period.”
The attraction aims to offer an authentic surfing experience with technology created by Spanish company Wavegarden creating consistent 6ft (1.8m) waves for surfers. Around 70,000 visitors are predicted annually.
