COUNCILLORS in Neath Port Talbot have been given an update on the projects which the county borough will be leading as part of the Swansea Bay City Deal.
Created with the aim of transforming and regenerating south west Wales, the city deal is made up of nine major projects that will look to “improve people’s lives in both rural and urban areas across the region”.
The deal is supported by both the Welsh and UK governments, and is expected to bring in more than up to £1.3bn of investment to the area by 2033, along with 9,000 well-paid job opportunities – with Neath Port Talbot Council taking the lead for two of the projects alongside partners in Swansea, Pembrokeshire, and Carmarthenshire councils.
Members in attendance at an environment, regeneration and streetscene services cabinet meeting held this month, heard details about the two projects, as well as the benefits they could have in the future.
The first of the projects is named Supporting Innovation and Low Carbon Growth and will see the creation of a programme made up of eight smaller interlinked projects.
These include the development of the Bay Technology Centre, described as a hybrid building on Baglan Energy Park that will provide a range of high-quality office and laboratory spaces for start-up businesses, along with a specialist facility on Harbourside to carry out research to support the steel and metals industry.
Other plans within this section of the project could see the creation of an air quality monitoring programme, a new hydrogen stimulus programme, which would create a link between the Swansea Bay Technology Centre and the Hydrogen Centre on Baglan Energy Park, along with a new centre of excellence that will provide green skills training for a number of workers in the region.
Additionally, there would be an advanced manufacturing production facility built in the borough, as well as an electric vehicle charging infrastructure map to help “de-carbonise transport, and address the new challenges posed by the increasing number of electric vehicles”.
The second project to be led by the council is Homes as Power Stations, which is described as a pioneering project that will look at “the integration of energy efficient design and renewable technologies in new build and existing housing stock”. A report to council said this will aim help in reducing fuel poverty in the area, as well as improving the health and wellbeing of residents.
Members in attendance at the meeting welcomed the discussions on the plans, saying they could be very important for the area in years to come, especially in the wake of potential job losses planned at the Port Talbot steelworks site.
