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Cabinet met on 25 March 2026 and considered an urgent report on St Helens Stadium in Swansea. It agreed to a community-focused redevelopment built around an artificial grass pitch, with the Ospreys using the site for the 2026/27 season, subject to due diligence checks and financial conditions. The minute records nine resolutions, including capital funding for community works and a stop on further spending until the Ospreys' financial sustainability is assured.
In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea, the following interests were declared: 1) Councillor L S Gibbard declared a Personal Interest in Minute 175 & 178 “Redevelopment of St Helens.”
No questions were asked.
Councillor P N May asked questions relating to Minute 175 “Redevelopment of St Helens”.
Resolved that pursuant to paragraph 100B (4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Leader of the Council agreed that the report on the Redevelopment of St Helens should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Reason for Urgency: An urgent decision of Cabinet is required due to the need to commence works on the Artificial Grass Pitch (AGP) / 4G pitch in April if the ground is to be available for the start of the 2026/27 rugby season. The Ospreys have already appointed contractors to undertake the works, and it is proposed that the Council, subject to due diligence checks, appoint the same contractors to avoid incurring any delay.
Call In Procedure - Urgency: This decision is exempt from the Authority’s Call In Procedure as “either the Head of Paid Service, the Section 151 Officer or the Monitoring Officer certifies that any delay likely to be caused by the Call In Procedure could seriously prejudice the Council or the Public Interest including failure to comply with Statutory requirements”. The Cabinet Member for Economy, Finance and Strategy submitted an urgent report providing an update on the position regarding St Helens Stadium and sought a decision on next steps. Cabinet at its meeting on 12 December 2024, resolved that the funding envelope for the development of St Helens could only be released once the Council had received satisfactory assurance that the Ospreys would continue as a regional team and would remain financed as a top tier leading region within Welsh rugby. This report does not overturn that decision. However, Cabinet is being asked to provide views on how it wishes to proceed on St Helens now critical decisions are required which will inform Rugby use, Cricket use and community use. This report set out: · The status of the required assurance regarding the Ospreys’ regional position. · The status on the cricket relocation to Sketty Lane. · The possible development of St Helens for the benefit of the community. · The operational and timing pressures now arising. · The deterioration of St Helens. · The implications for City Deal funding, which cannot proceed until an agreed, deliverable plan is in place. Cabinet was asked to consider those factors and determine how the Council should proceed considering the decisions made by Cabinet in December 2024 and the changed circumstances now affecting the site. Resolved that Cabinet: 1) Notes that the decisions made by Cabinet in December 2024 have not been implemented and the principles underpinning that decision remain firmly in place, and notes the updated situation as set out in this report. 2) Confirms that all recommendations in this report are subject to officers undertaking appropriate due diligence on the financial status and sustainability of Ospreys Rugby and the commitment and assurances offered by Y11, to include the measures set out in paragraph 12 of the accompanying report (exempt from publication) in the closed part of this agenda. 3) Approves the allocation of capital funding as detailed in paragraph 5 of the accompanying report (exempt from publication), for the purpose of improving elements of the St Helens site for community use. This funding will be drawn from the unsupported borrowing headroom added to the Capital programme in the 2026/27-2030/31 Capital Budget Report (Council 5 March 2026). 4) Approves a £300k virement from base contingency (funding a current permanent annual add to reserves) to cover the associated costs of the unsupported borrowing headroom necessarily released by this approval. 5) Delegates authority to the Chief Executive in conjunction with the Director of Finance and the Cabinet Member for Economy Finance and Strategy and Cabinet Member for Development to negotiate with the Ospreys the extent of each party’s contribution to the costs of the development of the site for community use. 6) No further expenditure is to be incurred by the Council until assurance is provided to the satisfaction of the Director of Finance / Section 151 Officer of the continued financial sustainability of Ospreys Rugby. 7) Subject to the satisfactory completion of a further subsidy control assessment, approves the granting of a licence/s to the Ospreys to allow them to occupy the site for the 2026/27 season; to monitor the development works and to undertake, at their own cost, all further works necessary to make the site fit for purpose for professional rugby. 8) Approves in principle the award of a contract for works associated with the community development including the design and installation of an Artificial Grass Pitch (AGP) / 4G pitch subject to officers undertaking the necessary due diligence and the approval of a Contract Award Report or otherwise noting that the necessary works will be commissioned via the Ospreys as appropriate. 9) Delegates authority to the Chief Executive and the Chief Legal Officer to approve the terms of the licence/s, collaboration agreement and any other legal documents necessary to deliver the project.
Cabinet were requested to exclude the public from the meeting during consideration of the item(s) of business identified in the recommendations to the report(s) on the grounds that it / they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as set out in the exclusion paragraph of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007 relevant to the items of business set out in the report(s). Cabinet considered the Public Interest Test in deciding whether to exclude the public from the meeting for the item of business where the Public Interest Test was relevant as set out in the report. Resolved that the public be excluded for the following item(s) of business. (Closed Session)
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
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