Latest news with #EuropeanRegionalDevelopmentFund
Wales Online
5 days ago
- Business
- Wales Online
The £10 million Welsh business park that still has no businesses in it
The £10 million Welsh business park that still has no businesses in it The site was completed in November of 2021 on land next to the A48 Brocastle Business Park in Bridgend (Image: John Myers) In a rural area near the Welsh town of Bridgend on the borders of the Vale of Glamorgan, there is currently a series of unused roads and pavements that lead to nowhere. Nestled between the M4 and A48, Brocastle Business Park was built to give an economic boost to the area, with the £10 million site funded by the Welsh Government with the aim of creating thousands of jobs. However, despite the numerous plots of land being ready and waiting to be filled by businesses, there is no hum of machinery or chatter of workers here at the moment, but instead an eerie silence as none of the land has yet been used. Brocastle Business Park was completed in November of 2021 on land next to the A48, around five miles away from junction 35 of the M4. It was built with Welsh Government funding to provide a 'substantial stimulus to employment opportunities' with outline planning consent for up to 770,000sq feet of floor space. The site is still hoped to bring in thousands of jobs to the area (Image: John Myers) Article continues below The works were carried out by a local civil engineering contractor and funded with more than £10 million from the Welsh Government, including around £6.2 million awarded through the European Regional Development Fund. An additional £2 million was also given to the project to link the new employment site to Waterton with an Active Travel Route. At the time of the opening, the then Minister for Economy Vaughan Gething said the 'significant investment' had been made for the plans that he hoped would lead to the creation of many new jobs. It was first completed in November 2021 (Image: John Myers) However, despite the completion of key roads and provision for nine plots at the site, as of August 2025, none appear to have been used with marketing agents still showing them as being available. Local Community Councillor Keith Hughes said he like others felt the area was still in need of more jobs adding that he hoped the investment at the site would eventually pay off. A response from Welsh Government said they were still confident that this would be the case, with negotiations on two of the plots currently taking place and others being 'actively marketed'. They said: 'Since substantial completion of the development plots, Brocastle has received a number of serious enquiries from interested parties. 'We are currently negotiating offers on two of the nine plots, one to a developer and one to an owner occupier. Article continues below ' The remaining plots continue to be actively marketed by commercial property agents and have been attracting steady interest. 'We remain confident that the site will attract further investment to Bridgend and be home to many new jobs in the coming years.' For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
The Star
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Latvia to develop emergency shelters in 570 properties
RIGA, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Latvia will convert premises in 570 buildings into emergency shelters with 22.19 million euros (25.07 million U.S. dollars) in co-funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The Latvian government on Tuesday approved a list of eligible properties whose owners will qualify for ERDF funding. The list includes 453 municipal and 117 state-owned buildings. The ERDF funding will be used to reconstruct or renovate existing spaces to meet third-category emergency shelter standards, which provide protection against various hazards such as explosions and disasters. The State Fire and Rescue Service has surveyed more than 3,000 state and municipal properties across Latvia and identified over 1,600 buildings with basements suitable for emergency shelter conversion. On April 30, the Latvian parliament adopted amendments to the Civil Protection and Disaster Management Law, mandating the construction of emergency shelters in specific types of buildings and setting regulations for the development and use of shelters. (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollar)
Agriland
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Agriland
MEP calls for immediate reversal of rural housing restrictions
Independent Ireland MEP, Ciaran Mullooly has today (May 19) urged local authorities to immediately reverse restrictions on one-off rural housing. The MEP has warned that current planning policies are driving a deepening emergency for families and communities across Ireland and Europe. Addressing the Housing Crisis Committee, MEP Mullooly highlighted the acute challenges faced by rural homeowners, particularly in Ireland, where building a home on family land has historically been the only viable route to homeownership for people. The MEP also condemned the 'growing' trend of local people being denied planning permission after incurring prohibitive costs for reports, only to be refused the right to build on ancestral land. According to the MEP, these barriers are 'fueling a cycle of depopulation', with young people unable to return, local schools losing teachers, sports clubs folding, and vital community hubs like pubs and post offices closing. Rural housing MEP Mullooly has criticised planning systems that prioritise environmental protections, such as safeguarding bogs, over the 'survival of rural communities'. He said: 'Let me be absolutely clear, rural Ireland is not a museum. It is not to be preserved for the benefit of planning documents or biodiversity reports. 'Rural Ireland is living and breathing, but struggling to survive, impacted by decisions made in distant rooms with no links to that place.' 'So we must see the full deployment of the Just Transition fund and ERDF fund to support these local communities,' Mullooly added. The MEP has called for a balanced approach that recognises both the socio-economic and cultural benefits of one-off housing and the advances in modern environmental techniques that can address legitimate concerns. Mullooly also warned that uncertainty over future funding in the Multiannual Financial Framework (MMF) threatens to undermine vital rural development efforts. He called for full deployment of the Just Transition fund and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to empower local communities and insisted that planning must be community-led and designed by locals rather than 'imposed from distant bureaucracies'.
