Carmarthenshire County Council’s Cabinet Members have agreed on an exciting and ambitious programme of capital spending which will see £275m of investment over the next five years including the delivery of two multi-million-pound transformational projects.
Discussing the Five-Year Capital Programme this week, Cllr David Jenkins, the council’s Cabinet Member for Resources, said he hoped Full Council would support the plans which will boost the economy, stimulate growth and create jobs.
Huge investment proposals include the two new transformational projects. The first is a £19.6m hub at the heart of Carmarthen Town Centre which will boost footfall as the county recovers from the pandemic. The hub would provide a home for the county’s art collection, a health and fitness suite, health and education facilities as well as being the new home to the authority’s Carmarthen hub and retail units.
The second is a £19m investment to complete the Twyi Valley Path between Carmarthen and Llandeilo which will bring significant benefits to the rural economy and improvements to health and wellbeing of residents. As part of the project, £366k is made available to upgrade parking provision making it more accessible to a wider number of commuters, families, visitors and walking and cycling enthusiasts of all abilities throughout the county and beyond, making it a truly landmark community resource and tourist destination.
Additional funding is also being made available for Zone 1 of the Pentre Awel development in Llanelli which will transform the landscape and economy of south Llanelli, Carmarthenshire and the wider West Wales region. It will create five distinct buildings linked with a “street” space, comprising an aquatics centre, sports hall, multipurpose sports and fitness rooms and gym, education and training facilities, clinical delivery and research and innovation and business space.
Significant investments will be made in schools with funds made available to complete the urgently needed replacement bus bays at Ysgol Dyffryn Taf. In communities, funding to provide Disability Facilities Grants will be continued bringing the total investment over the 5 years to £10.5m. On top of large investments already made in sport and culture an uplift of £1m in funding is proposed for the upgrade of the 3G pitch at Amman Valley Leisure Centre.
Some £4.7m will be made available for the replacement of refuse and recycling vehicles, together with an additional £1m from reserves as the authority’s match funding contribution to our Waste Strategy which will see the rollout of kerbside sorting for recycling collections.
Cabinet Member for Resources, Cllr David Jenkins says thedelivery of a number of key projects will create jobs and improve the quality of life for the people of Carmarthenshire.
He said: “This Capital Programme is exciting and seeks to maximise opportunities. It is again comprehensive and ambitious but above all, right, with the focus on economic stimulation and recovery.”
County council funding for the programme will be an estimated £141million, with a further £134million of external funding.
Next year the council will deliver the largest single investment made in recent years of £4.3m in the highway infrastructure.
Cllr Hazel Evans, Cabinet Member for Environment, said the proposed programme would regenerate the county and its ambitions.
She said: “It doesn’t matter whether you travel on a bus, a car or on a bike you must have safe highways to travel on.”
Additional funding will also be ploughed into flood management and mitigation works, IT and decarbonisation projects.
The proposed Capital Funding Programme will go before Full Council on Wednesday, March 2.
