A MONMOUTH-based company has said expansion plans which could double its workforce have been stalled by the Welsh Government’s refusal to finance them and could lead them to move out of Wales.

Water treatment company Siltbuster currently employees 46 people in the town and told the Argus they wanted to grow their workforce to about 100.

After what they said were eight months of negotiations with the Welsh Government for finance to boost their growth plans, they have now been put in jeopardy.

During a phone call to finalise the deal last week, the company was told any money for the mooted expansion plan was unavailable. The Welsh Government said they had “already exceeded” their job creation quote for 2015/16 and were unable to help, despite the company saying they had received verbal assurances their plans would be backed.

Siltbuster’s marketing manager Richard D Coulton said most of the company’s work is carried out in the Midlands and that it would make more financial sense to relocate there but that it wanted to reap the benefits of staying in Wales and in Monmouth.

He said: “It is incredibly frustrating. Monmouth needs quality jobs. We were all prepared to do our bit and build our future in Monmouth and at the last minute we need to delay our plans and seriously consider relocating out of Wales.”

The company’s bosses had thought the firm would be boosted because of what they had been told by the Welsh Government and because most of their staff live in Monmouthshire.

It exports to 33 countries, from as far as the Falkland Islands and Norway, and said it would have used the money to employ hi-tech engineers and scientists and build a new centre of excellence on the industrial land made available as part of the new Wonastow Road development.

But it could now be faced with a funding shortfall if the plans were to go ahead.

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “As with all funding requests, we will consider Siltbuster’s application against business need and the value for money benefits for the Welsh economy.”