A ROW over £10m pulled from Venue Cymru is still going on between Llandudno’s Conservative assembly member and Labour MP.
Last week, a war of words erupted between Aberconwy’s Conservative MS and the area’s Labour MP after the UK Government pulled £10m of funding promised to Venue Cymru.
Aberconwy MS Janet Finch-Saunders criticised the UK Labour Government for indicating that Venue Cymru was unlikely to receive the £10m UK Government Levelling-Up Fund promised by the previous Tory regime.
The money was set to refurbish the theatre and facilitate the council’s controversial plans to close Llandudno Library and move it to Venue Cymru.
But with the money now considered unlikely to emerge – though UK Government is yet to finalise cancelling the fund – Mrs Finch-Saunders slammed Labour, claiming the move was not included in their election manifesto.

This caused Labour’s new MP for Bangor Aberconwy Claire Hughes to criticise the Aberconwy MS.
Ms Hughes said to the Local Democracy Reporting Service last week: “In the case of the Venue Cymru project, a key part of this funding was to enable Llandudno Library to be moved to Venue Cymru, something which the Conservative AM for Aberconwy, Janet Finch Saunders MS, was very vocal in opposing.
“It would be rather surprising therefore if she would suddenly be in favour of the project going ahead given her campaign against it.”
Mrs Finch-Saunders has now responded, saying the library plan was not originally part of the proposals.
She said: “The Labour MP has stated that a key part of the funding for the Venue Cymru project was to enable Llandudno Library to be moved to Venue Cymru. That is factually incorrect.
“As Sarah Ecob, Conwy ’s head of economy and culture noted in a letter to me dated 27/08/2024, ‘We submitted a Levelling-Up bid to the UK Government in 2022 which included improvements to the Venue Cymru technical infrastructure, new auditorium seating, and an extension to the existing foyer to create a culture hub. The application was produced in a very short timescale due to the changing requirements and information about the Levelling Up funding scheme at the time.
“‘Whilst we were not successful with this application, it did give us the impetus to look at how we could improve our services in Llandudno should further funding opportunities become available. The offer of a £10 million investment was announced in the March 2024 budget and was a complete surprise to us’.”
Mrs Finch Saunders said: “Clearly, moving the library was not part of the bid in 2022.
“It is only under the current Conwy First, Labour, and Plaid Cymru cabinet that plans to potentially use UK Government money to move the library have been considered.
“In fact, it was at the cabinet meeting held on 23/07/2024 that it was recommended that the cabinet approve a public consultation regarding the possibility of moving the area library into the extended foyer areas within Venue Cymru.
“I have consistently opposed Labour and Plaid Cymru’s idea of moving the library and tourist information centre as part of the larger project which would be funded by the UK Government. That money is much better spent, as originally intended, on the theatre’s technical infrastructure and new auditorium seating.”