I WRITE in my capacity as campus director of the Blaenau Gwent Learning Zone in support of the Circuit of Wales development at Ebbw Vale.

BGLZ is the newest of the five campuses that comprise Coleg Gwent and is situated on The Works site, which is of huge historical significance to the area as it used to house the Ebbw Vale Steelworks, which finally closed in 2002. Since that closure, Blaenau Gwent has struggled with very high unemployment levels and levels of deprivation among the highest in Western Europe.

2012 was the first year of a new Tertiary Partnership between Coleg Gwent and the four secondary schools in Blaenau Gwent and BGLZ now has responsibility for the majority of Post 16 education and training in the borough. We take this responsibility very seriously and our learners have been highly successful, but high unemployment remains a massive hurdle for them upon completion of their studies. There are quite simply too few employment opportunities for our learners at present and a significant number are forced to leave the area to find jobs. If this continues there is a high risk that deprivation levels will increase still further.

The Circuit of Wales project represents a very significant opportunity to reverse this negative spiral. In my communications with learners, parents, teachers, businesses and citizens in general I have yet to speak to anyone from this area that opposes this exciting development. People can see its potential to transform lives and futures by providing jobs and creating a positive upward spiral of success as it attracts new industry to the area. As a college we are absolutely convinced that the Circuit of Wales represents a serious opportunity for this area to lift itself from a position of serious deprivation and that this fact alone should supersede concerns that may exist around the land that it inhabits, especially given the reassurances that BGCBC have already made about land transfer. For our part, we promise to continue to play an important role in ensuring that we are flexible enough to meet all of the training needs that arise from this project should it be successful.

John Sexton, Campus Director