Circuit of Wales in plan to use City Deal cash

THE controversial Circuit of Wales project is trying to persuade local authority leaders to back it, potentially using City Deal cash, we understand.

We have learned that the project has had discussions with local authorities and that one option that has been discussed is using as funds from the £1.2bn Cardiff Capital Region deal.

The circuit negotiating team has also told the Welsh Government it does not want the full due diligence reports on the project to be published.

The Cardiff City Region deal is being funded by the Welsh and UK governments, as well as capital borrowings of £120m from the the 10 local authorities that make up the city region, which has a population of 1.4 million.

The Circuit of Wales has previously said it needs a £210m public guarantee to underwrite loans to enable the £430m motorsport racetrack on moorland above Ebbw Vale to go ahead.

Such a guarantee was refused by the Welsh Government earlier this year.

A Welsh Government spokeswoman confirmed the Circuit of Wales’ objections had so far prevented it from publishing the due diligence it had undertaken on the project.

He said: “We have been unable to publish the due diligence undertaken on the Circuit of Wales project because the Heads of the Valleys Development Company recently wrote to object to the release of the information we had been hoping to publish.

“We have been working hard to overcome the objections they have raised.”

Plaid Cymru’s economy spokesman Adam Price, who had previously called on the Welsh Government to publish the due diligence, urged the company to allow the material to be published.

Mr Price also revealed he had written to every local authority leader in south east Wales urging them to support the project.

A spokesman for the Circuit of Wales negotiating team did not comment on the negotiations with local authorities.

In relation to the due diligence reports, he said the redactions it had requested were “non-contentious”.

He said: “The company requested that the material inaccuracies be rectified and that some limited information, which had been provided by third parties under confidentiality agreements not be released.

“The redactions requested non-contentious.”

We asked Cardiff council whether it was considering backing the Circuit of were Wales project as part of the City Deal.

A spokesman responded: “Cardiff council, along with other local authority partners in the city region, has had discussions about large-scale, transformative projects which could benefit the South Wales region.”

He said progress would only be made if full due diligence was undertaken