A PETITION calling on the Welsh Government to speed up the start of work on the Circuit of Wales will be presented to the National Assembly despite the project’s financial plan being turned down twice.

The £370 million project was rejected by the Welsh Government in April, when they refused to underwrite the entire investment for the project due to the risk to taxpayers’ money.

A second financial plan by the team behind the project was then turned down again in July, when ministers rejected a deal which asked them to underwrite 75 per cent of the 3.5 mile racetrack project, based north of Rassau Industrial Estate in Ebbw Vale.

But the petition, which has gathered around 3,500 signatures, will be presented to members of the National Assembly’s petitions committee on the steps of the Senedd today.

It states: “We call on the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to expedite the start of work on the Circuit of Wales as quickly as possible in order to help with the regeneration of Blaenau Gwent, the Heads of the Valleys and South Wales generally.”

Martin Whitaker, chief executive of the Circuit of Wales, said last week that they are continuing to work with the Welsh Government to deliver the project.