The Business Park With No Businesses

Figures revealed by Andrew RT Davies show that over £180,000 has been spent in the last three years on maintaining a business park that hasn’t created any jobs.

Brocastle Business Park in Bridgend, a 116 acre site, has been described by the Welsh Government as a ‘strategic employment site’ that could support 3,000 jobs.

Labour Ministers have, in Vaughan Gething’s words in 2021, “made a significant investment to develop the site, in order to offer investment ready opportunities to businesses.”

In 2020, the Welsh Government handed a £10 million contract to civil engineers Walters to build infrastructure at Brocastle.

A further £2 million was invested in 2022 to fund an active travel route connecting Brocastle to Waterton Roundabout, including 2 km of cycleway, crossings, lighting, footways, and signal upgrades.

In 2022, a Welsh Government report on four strategic employment sites, including Brocastle, said the sites could support 2,200 jobs by 2027, with the bulk of the jobs expected to be at Brocastle, “due to its scale and attractiveness to inward investors.”

Today, there are no jobs or businesses at Brocastle.

In response to a written question from Andrew RT Davies, the Welsh Government’s economy secretary said the expenditure on the facility management contract for the site was £40,536.77 in 2022/23, £48,527.56 in 2023/24, and £60,612.67 in 2024/25.

Additionally, the costs incurred since July 2022 for habitat and ecology management and other licence obligations is a further £37,186.83.

Andrew RT Davies MS, Senedd Member for South Wales Central and former Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, said:

“When I speak to people in my region, I find that they don’t mind taxpayers’ money being used to attract investment and grow the economy.

“What people don’t want to see is so much money spent on the development of an asset like Brocastle, only for it to lie empty, gathering dust and costing money every single year.

“A substantial investment has been made into the site, and now taxpayers expect to see a return on that investment.

“The Welsh Government have to see this project through and bring some businesses in.”

I cannot believe this Welsh Labour Government. Do these Labour politicians, before they are selected, have to take a degree course in how to waste public money? You really cannot make posts like this up.

Image: Andrew RT Davies (CC BY 2.0)