Council’s Turkey jobs trip cost £1,900

THE COSTS relating to a Blaenau Gwent council visit to a glass bottle factory in Turkey have been revealed in a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.

Council officers, two Independent councillors and a Welsh Government representative flew out to Istanbul before travelling to the factory in a bid to help secure a major development for the borough before lockdown earlier this year.

An FoI, submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, shows flights and accommodation costs totalled £1,882.76, while £21.17 was claimed on expenses for food.

The breakdown of the costs shows flights cost £1,076 and accommodation £806.76.

The company running the factory has since lodged plans for a similar project in Ebbw Vale which promises to create 600 jobs.

Blaenau Gwent council has said the visit was “not unusual” for a development of such significance.

But the leader of the council’s Labour group, Cllr Steve Thomas, said further details, such as the names of the councillors who went on the trip, should now be outlined.

“The continued secrecy about which members went to Turkey is damaging to the council’s reputation, and as I said previously, the council leadership should make a full disclosure in the interests of transparency,” Cllr Thomas said.

Since the trip, plans have been submitted for a glass bottle manufacturing facility on the Rassau Industrial Estate, near Ebbw Vale, with operations planned to start in 2023 and full production the following year.