Three weeks ago, this column pointed out that Anglesey remains the poorest county in the whole of the UK and suggested that the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) should adopt an exceptional approach in dealing with such an exceptional situation.I went on to propose that £100 million of European funds should be given to Anglesey over the next five years and that WAG should match that directly from its economic development budget.
Since then, I am glad that the local authority has taken up this call for ‘special status’ for the island and has directly approached WAG for financial aid.
Given this situation, many on the island would have been astounded that, on the same day that Anglesey Aluminium closed its doors, WAG was providing tens of millions of pounds for regeneration in another part of Wales.
Last Wednesday, a £38 million project to transform and revitalise Swansea's city centre and its waterfront was approved for funding by the Assembly. This follows the approval for other European funded projects in the city including £100 million for a range of initiatives at Swansea University, an £11 million scheme to replace the existing bus station, £6 million towards a new office development and £6 million towards supporting vulnerable adults in Swansea Bay.
Clearly, Swansea has made the most of the opportunities presented to it by European funding and good luck to those who have developed those projects.
Despite this, the question needs to be asked as to why £160 million has been given to Wales’ second city (seen above) when its poorest county has received just £5 million of European funds for one specific project?
That question becomes even more pertinent when you compare the relative prosperity of each county.
Anglesey is the poorest county in the whole of Britain, with an average prosperity of 56 per cent of the UK average. In contrast, Swansea’s wealth is at 81 per cent of the UK average, which means it wouldn’t even qualify under normal European rules for funding if it was considered as a county alone. However, because of the way we define our regions in Wales, Swansea benefits financially because it is grouped with other much poorer Welsh areas.
This has led to a situation where Anglesey County Council now has to go cap in hand to an Assembly Government that had no hesitation whatsoever in approving £160 million of funding to another more prosperous county that would not even meet the criteria for European support on its own.
As a gog born and bred, I find such a situation intolerable and make no apologies for demanding that North Wales is treated equitably when it comes to supporting wealth and employment creation.
Papers such as the Daily Post has pointed out, on numerous occasions, that there have long been suspicions that South Wales is given preference when it comes to support from politicians and policymakers in Cardiff Bay. This latest and unwarranted bias in the granting of European funds demonstrates that, at best, there is little appreciation or understanding of the problems facing the North Wales economy.
It is completely unacceptable that the poorest parts of this region are being short-changed when there seems to be no hesitation in approving hundreds of millions of pounds of spending for the rest of Wales.
The time has come for all of us to unequivocally demand that our elected representatives, from all the political parties wake up to this reality and do everything in their power to make sure that enough is enough. When it comes to economic and political support within both Westminster and Cardiff Bay, North Wales deserves ‘chwarae teg’.
Comments
I agree totally that poverty and lack of economic development in too many parts of Wales is a serious problem but to divide Wales along these false lines just detracts from the soundness of your argument.
The Daily Post would because that's their circulation area. I wish they were more national as it is a much better paper than the Western Mail.
What could Ynys Mon realistically do with £100m?
There are no built up areas to focus on (except perhaps around the Menai), the population is small (Bridgend and it's environs probably has an equal, if not larger population) so even small numbers of job losses will have a greater impact, statistically, than more populated areas in the South and North East. Also there are ongoing problems with the local authority.
What industries could Ynys Mon seed, grow and develop a niche in?
Is there a case for a "North Wales" EU region? I certainly believe so.
Living in an Objective One area, from my experience much of the money has been used for public realm improvements and social programmes. These schemes have their place of course but progress has been sluggish on developing the infrastructure and innovation needed to generate real wealth.
I fear Ynys Mon would end up falling into this "cycle".
It looks like Swansea has the right balance though.
Or is that too close to home?
If they could be bothered to read your article properly, you are not asking for North Wales to get any more, just to get its fair share. Thanks to Andrew Davies fighting his corner for Swansea and using his influence when economic development minister, the area has received hundreds of millions from European funding whilst Anglesey has had bugger all. Imagine if only a quarter of SA1 was in Holyhead what a difference it would make.
When Ebbw Vale Steel Works closed down, a small fortune was spent in regenerating the area whilst Ieu Bach has done nothing to bring money to his own constituency. By the way – the populations of Blaenau Gwent and the island of my birth are the same.
The same is true of other projects – the South gets an Opera House, a stadium a Botanic Garden and a Coastal park from the Millennium Commission and what do we gogs get, a bloody choo choo train from Caernarfon to Beddgelert!
The North has always had a bum deal – end of.
Interesting that you should blame other Welsh people and not the British government for the sad state of Ynys Môn. Methinks you may be suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome.
Your list of ‘national’ projects shows how little you know about the realpolitik of decisions regarding the location of lottery funding. The slate mine museum , Y Galeri, venue Cymru vs the Millennium Stadium, Millennium Centre and the Botanic Gardens. You have made my argument for me.
Pray tell me, as this is a 'silly' argument are you hoping that the 400 unemployed Anglesey Aluminium workers will hop on Ieuan Air or should they ‘get on their bikes’ and commute the four hours down to Swansea to get some jobs that will inevitably come from the millions being spent there.
Given your disdain for the British Government, you should have a chat with Adam Price, who seems to think that spreading the wealth throughout the UK from the South East of England is the right approach to economic policy. Why shouldn't be the same for Wales?
£160 million spent in Swansea; £5 million in Ynys Mon. That says everything about the priorities of the Assembly Government.
Swansea is a densely populated metropolis, with two universities, two large hospitals and has cultural diversity, including five mosques!
A few years back, there was a surge in Welsh property sales, as more affluent workers from England began purchasing holiday homes, which soon became the focus of much protest, some of which in the West and North, culminated in arson attacks on English owned properties.
There were some attacks too in the South, but let`s be honest, the memories of that campaign, along with the issues of "Welsh language in the workplace" may still linger in the minds of some potential investors.