Circuit ofWales in plan to use City Deal money
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’s 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.”
The Welsh Government is taking advice over whether the information can be released in spite of the objections that have been 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.
He said: “I would urge them to publish as much as possible. Mr Carrick [project frontman Michael Carrick] will have to respond to that.
“Speaking personally I think that there is no argument against maximum transparency. Ultimately does no-one any favours.”
Mr Price also revealed that 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 wrote to the Welsh Government on 1 September 2017 acknowledging the Cabinet Secretary wished to publish these reports.
“The letter pointed out that some of the material that had been provided to the Welsh Government under a non-disclosure agreement, but nonetheless accepted the release of extracts of the due diligence reports that the company had been provided with.
“The company however 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 were non-contentious, and do not impact it the conclusions of the external diligence which validates the long-term commercial viability, confirms the significant and immediate opportunities for local jobs, supports the competitive procurement and confirms value for money over our delivery programme.”
A spokesman for Aventa Capital Partners, the company wholly owned by Mr Carrick that was securing funding for the project, said: “Aventa is no longer engaged on the Circuit of Wales project and is not involved in any discussions.”
We asked Cardiff council whether it was considering backing the Circuit of 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 largescale, transformative projects which could benefit the South Wales region.
“If any of these major projects were chosen as part of the City Deal they could only happen with the agreement of the councils involved and to the satisfaction of those councils that due diligence was undertaken and any private-sector involvement was fit and proper.”