Fresh hope over jobs at Blackwood Gate (From Campaign Series)
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Fresh hope over jobs at Blackwood Gate
5:30pm Thursday 4th October 2012 in News
By Chris Wood, Reporter
EMPTY: The Blackwood Gate Retail Park has been unoccupied for some time but the council and the site owners want to bring a Morrisons supermarket there, which would ‘create up to 400 jobs’
AFTER the war of words reopened between Labour and Plaid Cymru members over the ill-fated Blackwood Gate Retail Park, the site’s owner has reaffirmed its commitment to bring up to 400 jobs to the town.
A spokesman for Linnell Investments said a “very good dialogue” continues with prospective tenant, supermarket giant Morrisons. He said if the company can secure planning consent for a supermarket at the site, it is confident the park can be “thriving again”.
Reinvigorating the empty retail park was a key pledge of the Labour party in the run-up to their successful local election campaign in May.
The site doesn’t have planning consent for a supermarket to be based there and councillors pledged to try to address this as soon as possible, with Morrisons lined up to take on the main, vacant unit.
The party subsequently regained control of the council, with many senior Plaid Cymru councillors losing their seats, including council leader Allan Pritchard.
Last week, Mr Pritchard accused Labour of making “undeliverable promises”- saying a pledge of bringing 400 new jobs to the site before this Christmas will not happen.
Blackwood’s Labour councillor Nigel Dix responded by saying he and his party remain committed to bringing the jobs to the town.
A Linnell spokesman said: “We have always confirmed that our main objective is to bring Blackwood Gate back into economic use, as it has sadly remained unoccupied for some time.
“We are confident that if we obtain planning consent, in line with our plans, we will see Blackwood Gate thriving again.”
He added that, as investors, the company sees a future for the site but said it is “essential”
that it obtains a new planning consent.
As well as Morrisons, the spokesman said talks have taken place with other companies about taking on the other vacant units there.
Comments(4)
Nig
says...
6:42pm Thu 4 Oct 12
if the applaicion fails its the bulldozers then we will have nothing and the unemployed will have been left to rot on the dole, will you be happy then. as for listening to people you need to clean yours out, over 3 thousand people voted Labour in support of Blackwood gate and another 4 thousand signed a petition , the Public have spoken.
Davi
says...
7:09pm Thu 4 Oct 12
gingertom
says...
11:22am Fri 5 Oct 12
Loads of people have said they don 't want a supermarket here but they are being ignored and a cinema group was interested in going to blackwood gate and I know that for a fact. It was the high rent that put them off.
Why didn't ccbc who are apparently spending £5 million on building a cinema in bargoed make the efforts to locate it at this place instead?
Areas like croespenmaen,oakdale
, pontllanfraith, blackwood,newbridge, abercarn, cwmcarn have no leisure facilities at all. The only reason Newbridge got a swimming pool was because the general public and the SOS campaign fought hard for it.
Shape up!
gingertom says...
6:16pm Thu 4 Oct 12
It is high time councillors started to listen to the general public.
Newbridge didn't want mcdonalds right on a dangerous roundabout but got landed with it.
Abercarn rfc are trying to save their welfare grounds but are not get much help either.
We badly need leisure facilities for the young, old and disabled.
A cinema and a bowling alley is what is needed on blackwood gate park, caerphilly cbc are building their own cinema in bargoed and that is what the area of blackwood needs first and foremost.
Councillors need to look at empty shops already in blackwood town centre as a priority.