22-05-2025
Welsh Labour spends £250,000 on moth-counting project
The Labour-run Welsh Government has come under attack for spending almost £250,000 on a project to count moths.
The two-year project, called Cryptic Creatures of the Creuddyn, will survey the moth population living in limestone habitats on the Creuddyn peninsula in the north of the country.
The programme, being delivered by the Heritage Fund, was given a £248,348 grant last February from the Government's Nature Networks Fund and will involve working with schools.
The Welsh Government said the collaborative initiative would help protect rare and at-risk invertebrates such as the micro-moth, which measures about 2cm in diameter.
But councillors have described it as a misuse of funds at a time when budgets for public services are being tightened.
Louise Emery, a Conservative councillor in Llandudno, told Wales Online: 'Whilst local authority budgets are really being squeezed, the Welsh Government finds money for projects such as Cryptic Creatures of the Creuddyn.
'On its own merit, in its own little world, I can see some benefit to that, but in the grand financial picture of what local authorities are facing, I find it incredible that they can find money for a project like this but we can't find money for basic public amenities such as toilets, or looking after our parks and gardens or highways.'
Cllr Emery also drew attention to the issue at a conference organised by the Welsh Conservatives, saying: 'It is always about priorities.
'So we need to say as the Welsh Conservatives, who will be in power in 2027, that we need to focus on the absolute basics of what we do at local authorities: collect the bins, educate your children and look after your vulnerable, and fix your highways.'
A Welsh Government spokesman said: 'The Cryptic Creatures of the Creuddyn project was awarded £248,348 as part of the Nature Networks Fund in February 2024. It is a collaborative initiative led by Conwy county borough council in partnership with Natural Resources Wales and Butterfly Conservation.
'The project is carrying out surveys, and protecting rare and at-risk invertebrates such as the micro-moth, which has been found in abundance in its only known Welsh habitat. This work will inform future habitat management and conservation strategies.'
The project also found 1,109 caterpillars of the horehound plume moth on the Great Orme in Llandudno last year.
Sion Dafis, the project manager, said at the time: 'This project will provide an interesting picture of invertebrate life in the area, and we want to involve the local community in making their own discoveries and raise awareness of the need to conserve habitats.'
Charlie McCoubrey, the leader of Conwy council, said: 'This is a grant-funded project. It's important to note that grant funding is for specific projects and cannot be spent on other services. Whilst grant funding is available, we will continue to apply for it.'
The funding comes at a period of heightened scrutiny over Welsh Labour's policy decisions, which have often proved to be controversial.
The Government has faced intense criticism for its blanket 20mph speed limits, which were reduced from 30mph.
A petition against the limits on the Welsh Government's website gained almost half a million signatures – the largest recorded there – and forced Lee Waters, the devolved minister behind the policy, to step down from his front-bench post.
On Wednesday, Jane Hutt, Welsh Labour's chief whip, prompted further accusations of a 'war on motorists' when she suggested the Government would be open to reducing some speed limits to as low as 5mph.
