NEWPORT has a great future if only people would stop talking the town down. That is the view of Graham Moore, executive director at the Welsh Development Agency who is in charge of special projects.

Mr Moore says he is optimistic that Newport will be able to reinvent itself and attract businesses to the area in the future.

In a wide ranging interview on what is being done to help regenerate Newport following the loss of jobs in the local steel industry, Mr Moore said investors see no difference between Newport or Cardiff and that work is on-going to attract businesses to the areas.

He said: 'You can see the developments in Cardiff. They have raised the profile of Wales, raised the image and Newport is part of that.

'Given its location we shouldnt keep talking Newport down. Newport is far more accessible than Cardiff and if we can get the investment to Cardiff it can spill over to Newport.'

Newportonian Mr Moore said the WDA was working on the construction of a new 35,000 sq. ft factory at Queensway Meadows that could be expanded to 75,000 sq ft in the future to help meet the demand from businesses for more premises.

He also said the WDA's international teams were looking for employers to bring companies into the area. He added: 'We have embarked upon a study looking at the regeneration of Newport, a regeneration strategy for Blaenau Gwent and what is known as a South East Wales spatial planning exercise looking at the interrelationship of towns themselves, communications, rail links and all the other developments such as the Oakdale Business Park and how they all link together in a South East Wales context as opposed to a local context.'

The Corus site is near the M4 motorway and would undoubtedly be of tremendous interest to private sector business.

In addition to its proximity to the M4 there is also a railway line alongside the plant.

Whatever developments take place will have to be done after a decontamination process has been completed and there is an expectation that Corus will pick up that bill.

Mr Moore said there are no current plans to build on the Corus site at Llanwern.

He said the dismantling of the disused parts of the steelworks would be a two to three year project. He said: 'It's not just taking away the superstructure. You have to deal with the legacy of the production process. Any contamination in the ground has to be dealt with.'

Mr Moore said mixed developments which offer opportunities for employment will more than likely predominate the area if it is developed and ruled out, for the time being at least, any housing developments. He said: 'The remaining part of the steelworks will still be there and you will sandwiched between industrial uses and retail uses.'

In the time it takes to remove the structures dominating Newports skyline to the east and the subsequent clean up operation of the 650 acres it is hoped a master plan will be developed between the WDA, Corus and other partners to identify potential uses for the area.

However, no grants will be made available to Corus to develop the site.

Steel companies operate in a protected industry and under European law it is forbidden to give state aid to steel manufactures.

Grants could only be made available if the land was sold to someone else.

Mr Moore said the WDA is working very closely with Corus and that a memorandum of understanding existed between the two organisations on how to proceed.

He said: 'Given the location of Llanwern then one would expect that there would be a lot of private sector interest. We would want to work with the private sector interest to maximise the benefit for the Newport area.'