Planners give go-ahead for £12 billion Defence Technical College at St Athan (From Barry And District News)

Planners give go-ahead for £12 billion Defence Technical College at St Athan

7:20am Thursday 1st October 2009

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PLANNING permission for a £12 billion project that could create thousands of jobs in the Vale has been granted.

Members of the Vale Council planning committee last week unanimously approved plans for the new Defence Technical College (DTC) at St Athan.

The scheme, one of the biggest ever investments in Wales, will now go forward for consideration by the Welsh Assembly Government.

Vale MP John Smith said the DTC would ‘transform the area’s economy’, should the Ministry of Defence give the final go-ahead.

The DTC will provide technical training for all the UK’s armed forces, creating the largest vocational training operation in the country, with up to 3,000 students at any one time.

Recreational and sporting amenities are planned which will be available for use by the public at set times.

Chairman of Metrix, the consortium which aims to deliver the plans, Charles Barrington said: "It is truly a win-win situation for all the stakeholders involved in this nationally important project.

"This decision is a huge step forward in our plans to reach contract agreement with the MOD in 2010."

Vale MP John Smith said that the decision by the Vale Council was a ‘big milestone’.

"This record investment is going ahead here in the Vale, and I want people here to get ready for it," he said. "Get ready to make the most of the tens of millions of pounds that will be injected into the local economy each year.

"Get ready to compete for the thousands of local jobs that this project will create, and get ready to supply goods and services to the thousands of people who will work, live and study at the St Athan site.

"Like the heyday of Barry Docks, this project will transform the economic fortunes of the Vale."

But the scheme has not gone unopposed.

Vale councillor for Llantwit Major, Gwyn John, said residents had expressed concerns over the need for the northern access road and voiced opinions about unacceptable air, noise, and light pollution.

"This will destroy the rural area, make no mistake about it," he added.

And Cllr Nic Hodges said support for the scheme was ‘not just beginning to ebb away, it was haemorraging’.

Councillors also approved proposals for a new Aerospace Business Park (ABP), developed by the Welsh Assembly Government, taking advantage of the existing operational runway.

Metrix has estimated the combined economic impact on the Vale of the DTC and ABP to be around £500million per year.

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