PLANS by the Welsh Government for a new £100 million automotive technology park in Ebbw Vale are "a promise waiting to be broken", Wales' top Tory has claimed.

The scheme was announced last month alongside the announcement that the £425 million Circuit of Wales project had been turned down for the third, and seemingly final, time.

But leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies has criticised the Welsh Government for committing £100 million towards the project over ten years without, he claimed, a finalised business case.

"The Welsh Government’s decision to pull the plug on the Circuit of Wales after seven years of empty promises was a huge blow, but the new plans for an automotive park are yet another Labour promise waiting to be broken," he said.

"We don’t even have a finalised business case yet.

"How can (economy and infrastructure secretary Ken Skates) claim that the biggest lesson of this whole debacle was the importance of proper due diligence, while he is simultaneously committing £100 million to a scheme that no one had even heard of until last month?

"We need to know that proper due diligence is still going to be followed in this case and the people of Ebbw Vale will want to know what will happen to these promises if the numbers don’t stack up.

"Is this going to end up going the same way as the Circuit of Wales?"

But a Welsh Government spokeswoman said "extensive external and internal due diligence" around the Circuit of Wales had shown the main benefits to the local economy would be from businesses moving to the area rather than directly from the race track.

"While the Welsh Conservatives have been busy talking these plans down, he has been meeting with industry figures including TVR, Ford, General Dynamics and IQE, as well as representatives of Ebbw Vale Enterprise Zone, Blaenau Gwent Council and Cardiff University, to make these plans a success," she said.

"There is strong and collective ambition between Welsh Government and its partners to shape and deliver a project that can genuinely regenerate the local economy and create the high quality jobs the area needs.

"We will publish a business case later in the year that draws upon specialist advice and reflects the views emerging from our partners."

The proposed site of the new park is yet to be revealed. It is not expected to be on the same site previously planned for the Circuit of Wales.