BLAENAU Gwent Council’s £350 million The Works site in Ebbw Vale has been completed with money to spare.

The £149,000 surplus funding will now be returned to the Welsh Government.

A report presented to a special meeting of the executive yesterday said The Works’ financial position showed an overall funding surplus of £149,000 on programme projects.

Chief finance officer David McAuliffe said: “This is a tremendous achievement on a project of this size, to come within budget and return money to the Welsh Government. From now on it’s up to Blaenau Gwent to take responsibility – it’s business as usual. The programme execution plan will ensure this happens as we move forward.”

The Works Programme Board has now ceased to exist and the responsibility for ensuring that it remains in a balanced funding position lies with Blaenau Gwent Council.

The council says the Programme Execution Plan (PrEP) will ensure that this happens and has been developed to capture the key governance matters and management processes for ongoing use by the council.

The report presented to councillors said: “This [surplus] demonstrates BGCBC’s and the Programme Board’s successful commitment to effective-cost management on a highly complex Programme of Works.”

The Works is a £350m project funded by the Welsh government, Blaenau Gwent Council and private firms, which is hoped will regenerate the area. It features The Learning Zone (a post-16 education facility), low-carbon housing, a £15 million leisure centre and Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan.