Corus puts plan for dock's land on hold (From Barry And District News)

Corus puts plan for dock's land on hold

Exclusive from our Business Staff

POTENTIAL jobs-spinning redevelopment of surplus land at the port of Newport is on hold until a number of key decisions are made, owners Associated British Ports claim. A prime mover in whether or not land is available to provide fresh opportunities in the wake of the demise of Llanwern is Corus.

The Welsh Development Agency, which has revealed it has bought 72 acres of land at four other ports in South Wales - Swansea, Port Talbot, Cardiff and Barry - is in discussions over potential land sales at Newport with ABP.

But ABP says a sticking point is the future requirements at the port of Corus which has used it to export finished products.

ABP Newport port manager John Copping said: "Corus is continuing to roll steel but most of that steel for the rolling process is being supplied from Lackenby on Teesside and not imported.

"The amount of steel that they (Corus) will be exporting is forecast to be drastically cut because Corus says it is to concentrate on its domestic market.

"We are still waiting for things to bottom out - Corus has not got a precise set of figures which they can give us and they are pretty much playing by ear."

Mr Copping said: "They have said what exports they have will be from the eastern end of the region which is Newport rather than Swansea.

"Until the full effect of Corus reduction is known to us and the amount of land that we need is known then we can't say the amount of land that is available for sale. We are going to have to wait and see."

And he said there were other other imponderables over the future need or use of land in Newport which revolve around two major road schemes for the town; the Southern Distributor Road and the proposed M4 Relief Road.

Mr Copping said: "We know virtually the alignment of the distributor road but not the M4 proposals, so there are a lot of things that need to bottom out in Newport before the situation clarifies itself and we are able to proceed with definite land sales."

Meanwhile the WDA says it is progressing with brownfield development schemes at the four ports mentioned above.

In Cardiff, the Agency is working on outline proposals for a development at Roath Basin to provide new business accommodation.

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