Industrial town in running for UK Town of Culture

Lewis Smith Local Democracy Reporter

A proud industrial town in Wales could be in the running to become the UK’s first town of culture in two years’ time.

Neath Port Talbot Council will consider submitting an expression of interest to the new UK Town of Culture competition over the next month for the town of Port Talbot and the nearby Afan Valley.

It is part of a new programme set up by the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) where it will sit alongside the more-established City of Culture competition.

The winning town will be awarded £3m to deliver a cultural programme in 2028 along with “considerable positive impacts” that could come with the winning status.

Once interest is submitted the DCMS will award bid development grants of £60,000 to each of the shortlisted places which will then be invited to submit a full application.

There will be three prize categories and from these three finalists an overall UK Town of Culture winner will be selected.

The recommendation from officers at Neath Port Talbot Council will now be discussed by the council’s cabinet on March 4.

If approved it could focus on a number of local wards such as Port Talbot, Aberavon, Baglan, Bryn and Cwmavon, Cimla and Pelenna, Cymer and Glyncorrwg, Gwynfi and Croeserw, Margam and Taibach, Sandfields East, and
Sandfields West.

A council spokesman said: “Port Talbot and the Afan Valley have a unique story to tell with a national profile, a colossal creative legacy, and a highly engaged local creative community offering a strong case for the application.

“The areas also have a common association with heavy industry and, more
recently, industrial decline.

“The backdrop of the Tata transition and its impact on community, wellbeing, health and the economy offers a compelling story, which could be best told using culture and the arts.

“Choosing these areas for the application will offer a chance to create a new positive narrative at a time of vast change.”

The discussions will come after the neighbouring borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf’s announcement that they would submit a bid for the town of Pontypridd.

It also comes just weeks after the council decided to put the upper Afan Valley forward as its focus for the UK Government’s Pride in Place Programme, which could see the area given £20m worth of funding over the next 10 years.