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Swansea Council鈥檚 planning committee has approved an outline planning application for the Swansea Central development site, a 125,000m虏 scheme consisting of land north and south of Oystermouth Road.

Plans for land south of the road, on an existing car park, include a 3,500-capacity digital indoor arena and conference centre above a new multi-storey car park, as well as a hotel of up to 13 storeys.

New shops, restaurants, caf茅s, landscaped public areas, cinema and car parking spaces are among the plans for the former St David鈥檚 shopping centre site north of Oystermouth Road. A pedestrian bridge across Oystermouth Road is also planned to link both sides of the development.

Rivington Land is managing the development of the overall scheme for Swansea Council.

Martin Nicholls, the council鈥檚 director of place, said the approval of outline planning consent for this scheme was 鈥渁 major step forward鈥� for the regeneration of Swansea city centre.

鈥淚t means we can now especially push on with our plans for the site that鈥檚 south of Oystermouth Road, which will form the first phase of the overall development.

鈥淲orking in partnership with Rivington Land and their design team, detailed design work will now take place on the planned indoor arena, hotel, multi-storey car park and pedestrian bridge. We also soon hope to appoint an indoor arena operator as the southern development site鈥檚 anchor tenant, who can work with us on the design and specification of the attraction,鈥� he added.

Nicholls said that once specific plans were in place, planning consent would again be needed, 鈥渂ut we鈥檙e looking to start work on the southern site of the overall development by the late spring or early summer of 2018鈥�.

Other imminent work will include a detailed travel plan and the appointment of a hotel operator.

David Lewis, chief executive of Rivington Land, said: 鈥淭he Swansea Central scheme will considerably enhance the city centre鈥檚 shopping attraction, while also giving local residents and visitors a much improved dining, leisure and recreational experience.

鈥淲e鈥檙e continuing to press ahead with the development on the council鈥檚 behalf, with the aim of delivering the venue and hotel on the south site in 2020, and completing the whole development in 2022.鈥�