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FAIR PLAY FOR ALL PARTS OF WALES

The post on Tuesday seems to have ignited some comments about the differences between North and South Wales. If those who have commented read the post carefully again, the aim of the article was to ask for fair play for those counties which have not received their fair share of European funding and to highlight the differences in European funding across the nation.

I raised the same issue two and a half years ago at the beginning of the current round of Convergence Funding, when I wrote a detailed analysis of how the previous round of Objective 1 spending had been distributed during the period 2000-2006.

It showed that instead of ensuring that all parts of West Wales and the Valleys fully benefits from European Structural Funding, the process has been more of a lottery with very little effort to ensure that funds are distributed equitably across the poorest regions of Wales.

Due to the absence of any strategic allocations, the process became one of ‘first come first served’ which did not take into account the differences in relative prosperity or population amongst the fifteen counties qualifying for Objective 1 funding. As a result, some local authority areas managed to secure a greater share of European funds for activities within their locality, despite the fact that this funding is there to increase the prosperity of all the deprived parts of Europe.

The distribution of European funding to boost competitiveness and increase economic prosperity within Wales should not be a lottery which is decided by factors such as whether organisations have a strong and proactive European office that submit applications quickly to WEFO to satisfy the needs of the programme.

Given the large inequities in the current provision of European funding across the different counties within West Wales and the Valleys, Convergence funding should have been distributed proportionately per capita amongst the different local authority areas of West Wales and the Valleys. This would guarantee that all parts of the region receive a significant amount of funding that can make a real difference to prosperity and employment within each local community.

However, it is clear that this has not been the case and, as with the previous round of European funding, parts of Wales which should, by right, be getting millions in additional funding are again losing out.

With half of the European Convergence programme already having been allocated to various projects, it is time that the Assembly Government re-examined the way that funding is distributed and ensured that all fifteen counties within West Wales and the Valleys benefit equitably from the remaining £1 billion of funding and that prosperity is spread not in one or two areas but across the Welsh economy.

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