£165m growth deal could be ‘too late’ to save economy
A growth deal that could be worth £165 million over 15 years might be too late to save the economy in some parts of a county, a councillor has warned.
Powys councillor David Selby instead wants to see emergency funding given to start projects up now to balance out other job losses rather than wait for the deal to be agreed.
In recent months, Newtown has been rocked with the loss of jobs at the Laura Ashley factories as the company went into administration. Redeveloping some of the industrial estates in Newtown had been brought up in a discussion of the Mid Wales Growth Deal at Powys County Council’s (PCC) Economy, Residents, Communities and Governance scrutiny committee.
Newtown councillor Selby, a Liberal Democrat, said: “What we need is to be doing stuff rather than talking.
“There is a need to be pushing the Welsh Government in particular to start some emergency projects so we can fill the gaps with what’s happened. We are looking probably at 600-to-700 people in Newtown that will lose their jobs unless we take action. We ought to be doing all we can to get the Welsh Government to give us emergency funding to move much quicker than the growth deal will allow – it’s the emergency deal I’m after.”
PCC’s director of economy and environment, Nigel Brinn, said they were working with the Welsh Government and the Welsh Local Government Association to discuss starting projects as soon as possible.
Mr Brinn said: “There’s been a lot of coverage about kick-starting the economy through capital investment.
“We are very much pushing and promoting it, we’ve sent through lists of potential projects already, some of which are in our capital programme and some are new. The sooner we can bring it forward the better.”
In May, the Strategic Economic Plan and Growth Deal Road Map – which sets out the ambition for the economies of Ceredigion and Powys – was agreed at the first meeting of the Growing Mid-Wales Board.
In June, the document was jointly presented by Ceredigion and Powys county councils to both the Wales and UK Governments. There are no specific proposals at the moment as the emphasis has been on getting the legal structure in place.
