“Plea” to preserve town fund – and ‘rumours £160m investment zone could be pulled’

The Leader of the Council has said “it would be truly disappointing” if the £20m town fund is scrapped – as appears is likely.

The towns fund was part of a £3.6 billion fund investing in towns as part of the former Conservative government’s plan to “level up our regions”.

Last October the then UK government announced that Wrexham would be amongst 55 cities across England, Scotland, and Wales selected as part of a “long-term investment plan for towns that have been overlooked and taken for granted”. It would see £20 million allocated to Wrexham over the next 10 years – the equivalent of £2 million a year.

Now, there seems well placed speculation that the schemes will be scrapped amid a reorganisation of UK finances by the new Labour government.

The separate Wrexham Flintshire Investment Zone is due to have access to support worth up to £160 million over ten years, with the new status expected to leverage an additional £1.7 billion of investment for the area and help create thousands of new jobs.

Wrexham Council Leader Mark Pritchard said, “On top of that there is rumours that the North Wales Investment Zone of £160 million panel could be pulled. If that would happen, that would be disaster for ourselves and Flintshire, because that was supposed to bring in around about a billion pound worth of investment within Wrexham and Flintshire. These are substantial amounts of money that we were relying on, and we had political support for it. We’ve been given something in one hand and it’s been taken away the other.

“On both pots of money, the £20 million and the £160 million, I ask them to reconsider what you’re doing, because there were reasons why we were given that money, there was justification.

“We have had this before though. The £50m plus that was taken away from it, we were promised the A483 junctions, that was hurtful.

“I would be very disappointed, and I know that the people of Wrexham would feel the same, because Wrexham does need investment, and when we had investment in the past, we’ve invested it, and it’s done. Currently you can see the High Street, you can see the markets.

“We can’t do improvements within Wrexham and taking it forward as a city unless there’s investment from central government – Westminster and Cardiff. We’re very used to taking the hard decisions with regards to the council budget.

“£60m has been taken away from us since austerity started, and that’s been difficult enough, but I think when these grants were coming through, it gave us a little bit of hope, a ray of sunshine, and we would have an investment, and we would spend that money very well.

“It now looks as if it’s all going to be pulled from us. So, a plea from me, and on behalf of Wrexham Council and on behalf of residents in Wrexham, please consider and revisit what you do as it would be a disaster”.