Council receives first part of £50m loan for rail testing centre

THE first part of a loan worth £50m to develop a Global Rail Testing Centre of Excellence (GCRE) near Ystradgynlais has been given to Powys County Council.

In total it is estimated that the project would cost £150m.

At a meeting of the Independent/ Conservative cabinet on Tuesday an item on Treasury Management for the last financial quarter of 2020/21 revealed that £33m had been handed over to the council from the Welsh Government in March.

A further £10m will be received in this financial year and £7m next year.

If the project does not go ahead, the money would be paid back to the Welsh Government.

Finance portfolio holder Cllr Aled Davies said: “A special bank account had to be set up to deal with that.

“In time an investment company will be formed, and the money loaned to it. It’s taken a huge amount of work to put everything in place and all the due diligence around that. We must not forget that this is a really positive and exciting programme.

“Global is in the title, which indicates the significance of this investment.”

The project also received a £30m pledge from the UK Government in its spring budget.

Corporate director for environment and economy Nigel Brinn said: “It’s great to see the project in this position with both governments confirming funding. I’m sure everyone welcomes that and is keen to see the project progress. We could not have forecast this six to 12 months ago.”

Council leader Cllr Rosemarie Harris added: “There’s a lot of work to be done, it’s so exciting, especially for an area that needs jobs and investment.”

The treasury management report was accepted by cabinet.

The GCRE is supposed to be built at Nant Helen once Celtic Energy finishes its coal-mining operation later this year.

Powys is part of a joint venture with Neath Port Talbot Borough Council and the Welsh Government, to develop the site, which straddles the local authority boundary.

At the end of March an outline planning application by the Welsh Government to build a Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) at the Nant Helen opencast coal mine was lodged with both Powys and Neath Port Talbot. It is expected that the application will be decided this summer.

Due to concerns in the area that the scheme could create noise pollution and impact the village of Caehopkin visually, the application has been “called in” to be decided by the planning committee.

If successful the project is expected to be fully operational by 2025, bringing a possible 300 jobs to the area.

Under the plans, a 6.9km highspeed testing track and 4.5km lowspeed high-tonnage testing track will be built at the site along with a dualplatform station.

Plans also include a control centre, a research and development facility, maintenance sheds and staff overnight accommodation.