Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, has accused Welsh Ministers of ‘snubbing’ the communities of Mid Wales by not allowing Powys County Council to bid for £90m of government funds earmarked for community regeneration.
The Minister for Housing and Regeneration, Carl Sargeant AM, informed Assembly Members in a Written Government Statement (10th September) which local authorities he had chosen to move to the final bidding stage of the Vibrant and Viable Places scheme. He said that following a stage one assessment process where each local authority bid was examined, he was only inviting eleven of the twenty two local authorities to go to stage 2 of the bidding process where if successful, they would potentially have a share of a 90m pound funding pot. The eleven authorities chosen were Bridgend, Conwy, Flintshire, Isle of Anglesey, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea, Torfaen and Wrexham.
Mr George said that there were a number of deprived communities across Powys that were in real need of regeneration who would have benefitted ‘significantly’ from this funding. He added that these communities would no longer have that opportunity because Welsh Minister’s had ignored their needs to support government ‘heartlands’ in North and South Wales.
Commenting, Mr George said:
“This decision is an absolute disgrace; it’s another snub for the communities of Mid Wales.
“The Vibrant Viable Place scheme was to replace the previous, very narrowly-focus Regeneration Areas policy, which saw Mid Wales vastly underrepresented with only one Regeneration Area – Aberystwyth – compared to the many others in north and south Wales.
“I stated to Welsh Ministers last year that there was a strong case for a number of areas in Powys, like the Severn Valley, to benefit significantly from regeneration funding and I therefore welcomed the change in direction earlier this year, when the Welsh Government announced that it was to open up the applications process under this new scheme.
“But once again the needs of communities in Powys have been pushed aside and ignored in favour of Government heartlands in north and south Wales.
“I will be raising this issue with the minister responsible and I will be requesting a detailed explanation as to why Powys’ bid has been removed from the process.”