Plans for Ebbw Vale business park lodged as part of major scheme 'changing the face of town'

The local authority has lodged a planning application to create a new employment park with 25 industrial units at the former steelworks site, now known as The Works, in Ebbw Vale.

A further application for nine more business units is also being prepared.

Under the plans the 25 units would operate from six buildings at the site, ranging in size from the smallest at 310m² to the biggest at 987m².

The business units within each of the buildings will range in size from 46m² to 465m².

A new access road and junctions off Lime Avenue would be created, along with a public footpath linking the development to surrounding facilities.

A total of 64 parking spaces would be provided as part of the development, with seven disabled parking bays.

The scheme, funded by the Welsh European Funding Office and Blaenau Gwent council , will create jobs and boost the economy, according to the plans.

"These developments would provide first class business infrastructure, and together with the on-going support available from Welsh Government, it is anticipated that these developments would contribute to the creation of jobs and sustainable growth within the Ebbw Vale Enterprise Zone," a design and access statement says.

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The regeneration of the former steelworks, approved in 2007, has seen a sports centre, secondary school, learning zone and energy centre built.

The vision is to create an academic and cultural hub, with a new theatre, leisure centre and education facilities to replace "ageing and fragmented facilities nearby."

Housing developments are also planned as part of the redevelopment.

The plans were drawn up in 2005, three years after the closure of the Ebbw Vale Steelworks which deprived the area of its principal employer.

A design and access statement says the benefits of the site's transformation are starting to be felt.

"Designed and constructed to a high quality with a fresh approach and a complete break from tradition is proving reinvigorating to the community and beginning to attract investment from

outside the county," it says.

With modern buildings and infrastructure, the development is said to be "massively changing the character of the town centre."