Ambitious action plan to bring jobs toValleys communities
The Welsh Government has revealed further details of how it hopes to transform the Valleys and create 7,000 jobs through a programme of economic renewal.
The plan includes developing seven strategic hubs for economic development and a Valleys Landscape Park to boost tourism and leisure opportunities. The locations of the first five hubs are: Pontypridd/Treforest, focusing on residential, office, industrial and retail development;
Caerphilly/Ystrad Mynach, focusing on residential, office and industrial development;
Cwmbran, focusing on office, industrial and residential development;
Merthyr Tydfil, focusing on office, industrial and residential development;
Neath, focusing on industrial, residential, digital and energy development.
The Welsh Government said it will also create a strategic hub in Ebbw Vale, focusing on a new automotive technology business park, which could support 1,500 new full-time equivalent jobs.
This will be backed by £100m of Welsh Government investment over 10 years. The first phase will deliver 40,000 sq ft of manufacturing space.
The technology park was announced after Economy Secretary Ken Skates revealed the Welsh Government would not provide financial backing for the area’s proposed Circuit of Wales project.
Northern Bridgend has been identified as a seventh hub since transport challenges can mean communities in the area are isolated from Bridgend and Pencoed. The hub will be near the M4 corridor and offer opportunities for private sector investment.
According to the delivery plan, a 15-year development blueprint identifying priority projects across all seven hubs will be created in January.
In April, an initial costed investment programme for each hub covering the years 2018-21 will be agreed.
The programme follows the work of the ministerial taskforce for the South Wales Valleys, which published its action plan Our Valleys, Our Future in July, outlining priority areas and an ambitious work programme for the future.
The plan was based on evidence taken by members of the taskforce and feedback from people living and working in the Valleys.
Other priorities identified in the plan include:
Relocating public sector jobs into the Valleys;
Releasing more publicly owned land for development; Help for new business start-ups; Tailored support for businesses with the highest growth potential; A package of measures to boost skills. In a statement, Local Government and Public Services Secretary Alun Davies said: “We have set the ambitious target of helping 7,000 unemployed or economically inactive people living in the Valleys into work through creating thousands of new, fair, secure and sustainable jobs in the Valleys by 2021.
“As part of achieving this stretching target we identified six locations for strategic hubs across the South Wales Valleys in the original action plan. These will be areas where we focus public investment, which in turn attracts private sector investment and the creation of new jobs and opportunities. Since we published the action plan – and as a result of ongoing conversations with the public and key partners – a seventh strategic hub in northern Bridgend has been identified.
“Over the course of the last few months, Welsh Government officials have met local authorities to discuss the strategic hubs, and in particular the opportunities and demands in each area and their aspirations for the future. Local authorities are leading the process of developing the proposals for their strategic hub – the initial themes are included in the delivery plan.
“Over the next few weeks, the taskforce and each of the seven local authorities will hold a strategic hub seminar to support the development of an investment blueprint for each location for the next 15 years. The specific projects to be funded over this Assembly term will be identified by April.”
The action plan also discussed setting up a Valleys Landscape Park, intended to develop tourism and leisure opportunities and create local sustainable jobs.
Mr Davies added: “Throughout our conversations with people living and working in the Valleys, we heard that not enough is being done to make the most of the natural landscape and the rich heritage. The taskforce has had inspiring discussions with Natural Resources Wales, community groups, third and private sector organisations about the idea for a landscape park. But we need to continue to develop this further... We have agreed we should focus on making the Valleys a place people are proud to call home; a place where businesses choose to invest and operate; where communities are empowered and show pride in their environment.
“The next step is to secure the funding for a support team to lead on the development of the landscape park, which will work with communities to help them to get the most out of the natural environment and support them to overcome barriers such as access to funding and public land access.”
Welsh Conservative Shadow Economy Secretary Russell George said: “For a generation and more, Valleys communities have been let down by a lack of strategic leadership at the heart of Welsh Government. This is a part of Wales which has seen huge sums of investment from EU schemes, and yet that money has on the whole been wasted, and there is little evidence to suggest that previous initiatives have been anywhere near transformational.”