Councils back partnership to kick-start regeneration projects

The councils will each pay £150,000 towards the first year of the partnership.

Potential projects include the Gwent Shopping Centre in Tredegar, Ebbw Vale Gateway, The Works and the former Nantyglo school site.

The decision comes after several major developments promised hundreds of jobs in Blaenau Gwent but failed to materialise.

At a special cabinet meeting on Monday, cabinet member for economy and place Cllr John C Morgan said the council needed help to bring schemes forward.

“We have a number of significant opportunities across Blaenau Gwent, and we don’t always have the capacity, specialist development expertise or access to investment needed to bring major schemes forward at the pace we would like,” he said.

“The intention is to use the partnership to unlock those types of projects and bring in expertise and investment that we could not access on our own.”

Cllr Morgan said decisions on whether projects proceeded and how they were funded would remain with the council, with no weakening of democratic control.

Cabinet member for children, young people and families Cllr Sue Edmunds asked for clarification about payments to the company.

Gerry Mills, the two councils’ joint assistant director for property, investment and economic development, said: “This is a one-year arrangement. We use the first year to build trust and make sure we understand what each other’s positions are so we can all move forward together.”

Director of corporate services Rhian Hayden confirmed that the £300,000 cost would be split equally between the authorities.

Setbacks

Blaenau Gwent has faced decades of economic decline following the loss of coal mining and steelmaking, with people leaving the area to find work.

Three major developments proposed over the past 15 years had been expected to create hundreds of jobs, but none delivered the anticipated revival.

Last year, Turkish company Ciner withdrew from plans for a £390 million glass bottle factory in Ebbw Vale, citing concerns about its commercial viability.

The £425 million Circuit of Wales proposal, first put forward in 2011, would have brought a motor racing circuit and technology park to moorland outside the town.

It was intended to attract private investment with Welsh Government backing. In 2017, ministers rejected a request to underwrite a £210 million loan.

The Welsh Government also bought the former Techboard factory in Ebbw Vale in 2017 and refurbished it for sports car manufacturer TVR.

Hopes that the company would produce cars at the site fell through shortly before Christmas 2023.