Plans are under way to give run-down Welsh town Merthyr Tydfil a £250m makeover.
the town has been devastated by the closure of the Ebbw Vale steelworks, leading to an unemployment rate twice the Welsh national average.

Forty per cent of households in the area have an income of less than £10,000 a year.

Client Merthyr Village has submitted a £250m masterplan to Merthyr Tydfil council to build homes, shops, offices and leisure facilities in the town’s Rhydycar suburb.

The plan, developed by architect Geoffrey Reid, is to be built on derelict land. It is intended to link up with Merthyr’s shopping centre.

Key features of the development are a shopping village and leisure facilities, including a cinema and indoor bowling centre, as well as a 10,000-seat football stadium, a 35 ha country park with fishing lakes and equestrian centre, a business park and two hotels.

Merthyr Village chief executive Dale Hart said the proposal is one of the largest in Wales for years.

He said the scheme would result in a better environment, with large green areas for public enjoyment.

Hart added: “The site is strategically located adjacent to the A470 and just south of the A465. And part of the site is already earmarked for economic and business development.”