Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies has welcomed announcements unveiled by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in last week’s Budget, that will help accelerate funding for the North Wales Growth Deal and bring jobs and opportunities to the region.
The Growth Deal, which was signed off in December 2020, will benefit from a reprofiling, which will see funding brought forward from 15 years to 10 years.
As a result of this announcement, the North Wales Growth Deal will receive an extra £4.4 million per year from 2021/22 for the remaining nine years of the Deal, creating up to 3,800 new jobs and leading to a £2.2 billion uplift for the regional economy.
The Growth Deal will help a range of projects across the Vale of Clwyd and North Wales more widely.
One project that will directly benefit from this deal is the redevelopment of the former North Wales Hospital in Denbigh. Under the current submitted planning application, the Victorian hospital site will be transformed into 300 new homes (with 32 apartments being constructed within the site’s Grade 2* Listed buildings) and 1,100 sq. m of commercial and business accommodation, and could provide 50 net additional full time jobs. Funding from the Growth Deal will enable the project to be economically viable, as the significant costs associated with restoring the listed buildings and preparing the site for redevelopment would otherwise be prohibitive.
Another potential project to be backed by the Deal is the Key Strategic Site at Bodelwyddan. Primarily, the Growth Deal funding would de-risk the delivery of primary services to the site, enabling the site to be bought to the market for development. This funding would help to kickstart the development, which the council believes would in turn create a number of skilled construction jobs and complement the employment opportunities at the nearby St Asaph Business Park.
Indeed, the Deal also boosts regional efforts to promote innovation in high value manufacturing, with £29.8m of capital investment set to be made at OpTIC Centre at St Asaph Business Park by Glyndwr University. This funding will support the existing cluster of high-tech engineering industries with precision optical systems, photonics technologies and facilities development, that will have broad industrial, R&D and educational applications.
In addition, the programme may have the potential to help fund other important development opportunities in the region, such as the Queens Buildings in Rhyl.
The Vale of Clwyd will benefit from improved digital connectivity thanks to the North Wales Growth Deal. Gigabit-enabled connectivity improvement will help unlock the growth potential of strategic business premises in priority sectors, while assistance will be provided to secure better broadband for the “last few %” of residential properties with current download speeds of under 30Mbps. This will make the area more attractive for inward investment, enhancing the region’s capacity for research and innovation.
The Low Carbon Energy Programme aspect of the Deal will provide fresh opportunities to cement North Wales as a UK leader for low carbon energy generation, by supporting a range of projects, including through £25 million in funding for the Smart Local Energy project. This will promote renewable energy, decarbonisation and local energy solutions and could see the creation of up to 980 new jobs in total. It can enable the growth of regional supply chains by supporting projects that can grow by utilising regional manufacturing and assembly capabilities, for example.
The tourism and agri-food sectors will also receive great support from the North Wales Growth Deal, which aims to help make businesses across the region more resilient. An aspect of this support will see funding for up-skilling the workforce in these sectors, with additional training to be training provided to 2,500 individual or businesses operating in the agri-food and tourism industries. It also aims to support up to 400 businesses in diversifying, decarbonising and adopting new technologies.
Speaking after the announcement on Wednesday, James said,
“It is great to see the UK Government reaffirming its ambition to level-up North Wales at the budget.
“The acceleration of funding for the North Wales Growth Deal emphasises the Chancellor’s desire to see growth in our region move quickly and efficiently – a desire which I passionately share.
“The Growth Deal itself will help people and businesses in North Wales to progress and fulfil their potential by improving key services and better equipping our region for the future.
“I welcome the breadth of projects that will be supported by the Deal, and I am excited to see the major projects based in the Vale of Clwyd, such as the North Wales Hospital redevelopment, begin to take shape in the coming years.
“I am also delighted that the Deal will give us here in North Wales the opportunity to build on our reputation as a leader in low-carbon energy. Reducing our emissions and greening up our energy mix are priorities for the whole country.
“I look forward to continuing constructive work with local leaders and Directors of the Deal, as well as with the Chancellor, to make sure that North Wales reaps maximum benefits from this important growth opportunity.”
