THE prospect of thousands of new jobs for one of Wales' most deprived areas has taken a giant stride towards reality.

The proposed Circuit of Wales racetrack near Ebbw Vale has been in limbo after Welsh Government ministers temporarily blocked Blaenau Gwent councillors from granting the development planning permission.

Ministers said they wanted more time to consider the plans, objections from environmental groups, and to decide whether the scheme should be called in.

This newspaper has lobbied hard against the latter option as it would delay the scheme for many months and end any hope of a Moto GP race being staged at the circuit in 2015.

So we are delighted that the main objectors to the scheme, Natural Resources Wales, say there is no need for the scheme to be called in and they believe its environmental impact can be mitigated.

NRW's comments come after a meeting with the Heads of the Valleys Development Corporation, one of the key organisations behind the Circuit of Wales proposals.

The scheme is not out of the woods yet, so to speak.

Gwent Wildlife Trust is maintaining its vociferous opposition to the proposals on environmental grounds and wants the plans called in.

Their protests are quite genuine, of course, but we do not agree with them.

The sooner the Circuit of Wales is built the better for an area that has been ignored by the powers-that-be for far too long.