£10m plan to give Valleys new life

Officers at Blaenau Gwent county borough council will ask members to approve a £10 million regeneration scheme for Llanhilleth, the third most deprived ward in Blaenau Gwent.

The Argus revealed in November that the National Assembly had unveiled plans to revitalise Llanhilleth.

One of the cornerstones of the scheme is the provision of a new school. Local councillor Jim McIlwee said it would bring the teaching environment and equipment into the 21st century.

He said: "This will be an opportunity for the children of Llanhilleth to be taught in the 21st century rather than the 19th century.

"The teachers and staff of both schools in Llanhilleth have done a tremendous job to work with the facilities that they have and all credit to them."

The new school would come complete with a playground and all-weather floodlit tennis courts.

A link up to the A467 and six new industrial units will aim to boost the economy of not only Llanhilleth but also Aberbeeg, Brynithel and Swffryd.

With the anticipated increase in traffic associated with the improvements, a new vehicle and pedestrian bridge will be provided over the railway line and the junction with the B4471 will be altered to be traffic light controlled.

Llanhilleth councillor Hedley McCarthy said: "This is tremendous for the school and community in general. It should impact on the lives of everyone not just in the village but the whole of the surrounding area."

And he added the link-up to the A467 would be very important: "For years Llanhilleth has been left behind by not having been linked up to the A467 so when work commences it will be about time too."

Fellow Llanhilleth councillor Den Hughes said: "This is a flagship scheme as far as Blaenau Gwent is concerned. It will totally regenerate the community and it has all the concerns of the community at heart."

Should approval be granted, work on the scheme is expected to start in May and will take at least two years to complete.