Labour’s Assembly candidate Keith Davies and Nia Griffith MP have given a warm welcome to the £7.5million funding for Llanelli Town Centre from the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government.
Keith commented, “This will put the heart back into Llanelli. The Trostre development has already resulted in a large number of visitors coming to Llanelli to shop. This welcome new investment of £13.5m for the regeneration of the Town Centre as well as the proposed East gate development should encourage business people to invest in more specialist outlets in the centre that will complement the out of town stores of Trostre and result in the visitors including the Town Centre as part of their Llanelli “Day Out””
Nia added, “This shows what a difference a strong Labour Assembly can make with this tremendous investment and the small business rate relief, in spite of the Tory- LibDem Government in Westminster. But my real fear is that the Tories and LibDems have no proper plans for economic growth and new jobs; the threat of widespread job losses and a hike in VAT to 20% will leave less money to sustain our town centre businesses.”
The funding will be on top of Carmarthenshire County Council’s £13.5m renewal plans, and includes almost £3m from the European Regional Development Fund and some £4.5m from the Assembly. Further funding of £1.9m will come from Carmarthenshire County Council, £0.5m from the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government’s Safe Routes in Communities, £1m from the private sector and £2.7m from Llanelli Coast Joint Venture.
The funding will bring the total investment in the town centre to an estimated £60million over the next few years. This includes the East Gate development, and the library refurbishment as well as the EU backed new theatre and Llanelly House. The aim is to complete all the work in 2014.