THE regeneration of towns and villages in Blaenau Gwent is continuing apace, with major projects underway in Ebbw Vale, Abertillery, Brynmawr and Tredegar.

Members of Blaenau Gwent council’s regeneration scrutiny committee will be told this week about the progress in the borough over the last six months.

This includes the first phase of major works to Church Street in Ebbw Vale, which have improved parking, paving, lighting and street furniture in the town centre.

Promo Cymru has secured more than £780,000 from the Big Lottery Fund to refurbish the Ebbw Vale Institute, andwork around Somerset Street in Abertillery has been completed, including the refurbishment of its Cenotaph.

Cash was secured from the South East Wales Transport Alliance for the demolition of Brynmawr’s former Haven Store to improve links between the bus station and the town centre.

The first phase of a bid for £1.5 million was also submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund, with the cash intended to refurbish 18 historic buildings around The Circle in Tredegar.

The move comes a year after Tredegar Town Council declared its town’s heritage was “in crisis” because many of its most important buildings were at risk.

An emergency summit was held, and a heritage steering group set up to find ways to stop the decline. A decision on the first round application, which seeks funding to prepare a detailed second round application for the £1.5 million, will be made in April.

Over the next six months, it is expected a public consultation will begin on plans for a new bus terminal and taxi rank in Ebbw Vale, a community garden will be created on the Hermon burial ground in Nantyglo, and a new Chartist exhibition and website project will be finished at the Salem Chapel in Blaina.

It is also hoped Trinity Chapel in Abertillery will be refurbished to become a market – possibly a food market, part-time cookery school or enterprise centre – as well as the development of a Foundry Bridge “gateway feature” in the town, depicting the area’s coal mining history.

Cash bid to enhance town’s historic sites

COUNCILLOR Malcolm Cross, leader of Tredegar Town Council, said if the bid is approved, it is hoped cash will be used to target buildings including the NCB Club, the former Tredegar Arms, and Number 10 The Circle, which was once housed Tredegar Medical Aid Society – considered a forerunner of the NHS.

Cllr Cross said: “It’s good to see things moving.

Bedwellty House and the park look tremendous, but when you come and look around The Circle, it does not enhance Tredegar. But if the money can be allocated and spent wisely it will lift the profile of the whole town.”