A WASTE management company could see 30 of 63 jobs cut after its bid to buy land was refused due to the Circuit of Wales project.

Thomas Waste Management’s bid to buy land on the Waun-Y-Pound industrial estate near Ebbw Vale was blocked by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council three years ago and they have since been unable to find an alternative site.

Owner Gareth Thomas stated the Brynmawr-based company had been ‘led down the garden path’ by the council and Welsh Government’s Head of the Valley road expansion contractor Costain, after promises to help in its relocation after a compulsory purchase order.

Mr Thomas, said: “We have until March to find a new location and if that’s unsuccessful we could be looking at up to 30 redundancies.

“There’s no way we can restructure without making cuts as we have already outgrown our current sites. I was given certain promises by Costain and as soon as they got what they wanted, they said they had done all they could.”

Its current base close to the A465 Heads of the Valleys road includes three acres the company owns and three acres it is leasing, the latter of which has been earmarked for the road expansion since 1997.

Mr Thomas added he ‘had agreed a price’ with council officials on the Waun-Y-Pound site and tried to avoid delays or extra costs by moving the business to the industrial estate.

But Blaenau Gwent councillors voted against the advice of officials in November 2013, refusing to sell the 9.6 acre site to the company, who deal with 65,000 tonnes of waste annually, saying it could have a ‘detrimental impact on any future regeneration plans that may arise as part of the Circuit of Wales project’.

The site was previously offered by the council as a potential site for the waste industry before the £425m racetrack project was officially announced in 2011.

A Circuit of Wales spokesman stated they “have an 838 acre area and have never expressed any interest in the site”.

Mr Thomas, added: “Recent meetings we have had mean that we will have to nearly halve our workforce of 63 as we won’t be able to be sustainable otherwise.

“We don't want to see job losses, we've all got families and are one family ourselves but we have been left with nothing else."

Blaenau Gwent executive member for environment, Councillor Haydn Trollope, said: “Since the meeting in November 2013, we have engaged with the Company to identify suitable sites for the relocation and understand that restrictions at their current site and during the dualling of the Heads of the Valleys Road, limiting its plans for expansion."

"Together with the Welsh Government, we've worked with the Company to mitigate the current position and secure a sustainable future to meet its aspirations."

The Welsh Government declined to comment.