Tories sceptical of EbbwVale automotive business park plan

THE pledge to create a £100m automotive business park in Ebbw Vale is a promise “waiting to be broken”, the Welsh Conservatives have claimed.

The Tories have accused the Welsh Government of pushing ahead with the proposals without a finalised business plan. They say the scheme was announced as part of a “cynical ploy to reduce the impact of the Welsh Government’s decision not to back the Circuit of Wales”.

Last month Economy Secretary Ken Skates refused to grant £210m in guarantees for the Circuit of Wales. However, plans were unveiled to spend £100m over 10 years on an automotive business park.

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: “The Welsh Government’s decision to pull the plug on the Circuit of Wales after seven years of empty promises was a huge blow, but the new plans for an automotive park are yet another Labour promise waiting to be broken. We don’t even have a finalised business case yet . ... Is this going to end up going the same way as the Circuit of Wales?”

Mr Davies used a written question to ask Mr Skates to “provide specific details of the internal expertise and external assessments and also provide details of the pipeline projects relating to the automotive technology business park”.

Mr Skates responded: “We will publish a full business case in relation to the automotive technology park later in the year, which will of course be informed by relevant expertise and assessments, as well as the views emerging from the current stakeholder engagement.”