Leader’s call for funds to start flowing

MONEY needs to start flowing to city deal projects in Carmarthenshire from central Government, council leader Emlyn Dole has said.

The Plaid leader has called on the Welsh Government to release £40 million towards the Wellness and Life Science Village planned for Llanelli.

The sum has been allocated from central Government to the £200 million project as part of the city deal for the region. Mr Dole also said £5 million needed to be provided as planned towards Yr Egin, Carmarthen, which has already opened as the new headquarters for S4C. The call comes days after German car part manufacturer Schaeffler announced proposals to close its Llanelli site, putting more than 200 jobs at risk.

Mr Dole said the planned Wellness and Life Science Village at Delta Lakes was attracting the attention of “many large companies”.

“We must capitalise on this interest as quickly as we can to start to provide the 1,800 first-class jobs that the village, with its associated university, health, research, teaching, leisure and care facilities, will bring,” he said.

He said the city deal projects had undergone robust business planning.

But the UK and Welsh governments are yet to sign them off.

Mr Dole added: “We need to get these funds released to enable further job creation during this challenging period. We need to provide confidence to the business community at this time and show that our funds are ready to enable them to invest too.”

The Welsh and UK governments were asked to comment but had not done so by the time the Star went to press.