Welsh Government now needs to ‘turbo boost’ city deal say Plaid

Plaid AM Dai Lloyd has called on the Welsh Government to speed up the development of the Swansea Bay City Deal.

The independent review into the Swansea Bay City Deal, published last Friday, recommends that the Welsh and UK Government should immediately work with local authorities to ensure that funding can be released to fund the Swansea Waterfront and Yr Egin development in Carmarthen.

The review, conducted by Actica consulting, was commissioned by both UK and Welsh Governments.

Addressing Welsh Government Minister Rebecca Evans today in the Senedd, Dr. Lloyd pointed to the farcical situation whereby Yr Egin development in Carmarthen has been built, has been officially opened last year and is nearly fully occupied – yet the UK and Welsh Governments have still not released the funding.

Dr. Lloyd stated:

“It is clear from reading the independent review that there are frustrations from both UK and Welsh Government's perspective and from the regional local authorities in terms of how the City Deal is progressing.

“It raises a number of questions as to effectiveness of the structure of the Swansea Bay City Deal.

“What strikes me is that there is much improvement to be made in terms of the working relationship between the Welsh and UK Government and the local authorities.

“When the first recommendation looks to encourage ‘direct and regular face to face talks’, you know that something is not quite right. In a scheme of this magnitude, you would expect ‘direct and regular face to face talks’ to be a pre-requisite.”

Speaking on the need for the Welsh and UK Governments to release funding, Dr. Lloyd added:

“The slow pace by which cash is being released by Welsh and UK Governments is striking.

“The theory behind the City Deal structure in Swansea Bay is that funding should be provided by both Governments early on to front-load the funding profile of projects, enabling them to be delivered.

“However, we have a farcical situation whereby Yr Egin development in Carmarthen has been built, has been officially opened last year and is nearly fully occupied – yet the UK and Welsh Governments have still not released the funding.

“People are rightly asking, what is going on here?

“The Welsh Government needs to bring forward a statement on the Swansea Bay City Deal as soon as possible, and need to provide a ‘turbo boost’ so as to ensure that vital projects are delivered in a timely fashion.”