SINCE the closure of Ebbw Vale Steelworks and the Valleys collieries, the town centres of Blaenau Gwent has lost approximately 45 per cent of retail shops. Despite the Welsh Government spending tens of millions of pounds in an attempt to regenerate the town centres, retail businesses are still closing, only to be replaced by charity shops and modern day pawnbrokers.The only way that this degeneration of our town centres can be reversed is to attract employers to the borough who are prepared to pay realistic wages.

It is for this reason that the members of Blaenau Gwent Business Forum wholeheartedly give their backing to the Circuit of Wales. Blaenau Gwent is officially one of the most deprived areas in the UK and Europe. We should not be denied this opportunity. The level of employment that the circuit will generate will go a long way towards putting life back into our borough (and possibly the whole of South Wales).

Phillip Edwards, Chairman, Blaenau Gwent Business Forum