Growth bid ‘good for Gwynedd’

SUGGESTIONS that the North Wales Growth Bid will result in funds being diverted east to the detriment of rural north west Wales have been rejected by the leader of Gwynedd council.

Last week, the full council approved governance arrangements for the bid, which aims to generate around 5,000 new jobs across north Wales’ six counties. It hopes to secure £383m of Welsh and UK government money, with private industry expected to make up the remainder of the £1.3 billion investment.

However, concerns were raised that the plans would result in the bulk of the funds drifting eastwards.

Llais Gwynedd councillor Alwyn Gruffydd said in the chamber: “I find it difficult to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

“The councils in the north east, conveniently enough, are in a position to work with the Northern Powerhouse, leaving us in the rural north west in the dark.”

But Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn, Gwynedd council leader and vice-chair of the North Wales Growth Bid, responded: “If we’re not confident enough to stand together and work with other councils to attract this significant funding, we face a bleak future.

“Are you ready to allow the eastern counties to work with the North West of England and for us to say ‘no thanks?’ We’d certainly be in the economic desert then.

“The growth bid will not answer all our problems, far from it, but we must grab this opportunity with both hands.”