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issue 3 Aneurin foreword Phillips... “A high quality environment is good for supporting some 8,000 jobs. and environment. If we don’t do this then we growth and good for jobs.” Aneurin said: “The key to maintaining will lose our natural advantage.” That’s the view of Aneurin Phillips, market share is the utilisation of the natural Snowdonia National Park Authority’s Chief environment; in particular in the growing Executive, who oversaw the creation of outdoor activities sector. the magnificent Hafod Eryri, the critically “The recently announced Gwynedd Centres acclaimed £8.3 million Visitor Centre at the of Excellence project utilising convergence summit of Snowdon. funding for the development of activity hubs He points out that the natural environment in North West Wales should reinforce this. of Wales three National Parks generates £177 “I emphasise that there is a strong need for million in income and supports 12,000 jobs local people to become involved in the sector excluding tourism, according to the Valuing both in setting up new businesses but also as Our Environment report. instructors and guides for people wanting to He said: “Equally important is the impact that develop their skills or explore the area as part an attractive environment can have in leading of their holiday. businesses and individuals to set up in the “To make the most of these opportunities area. there is a need for the infrastructure to “The contrasts of the be developed to allow businesses to be countryside when you can be on top of a established and to grow. mountain in the morning and on the beach “A high quality footpath and access network in the afternoon fulfil many people’s desire is vital but another form of network needs to for a good quality of life with a wide range of be strengthened as a key component. recreational activities on offer. “The potential offered by the internet “The attractions of North Wales for and the need to build on the Fibrespeed businesses wishing to settle here are obvious. project along the coast is immense and Add to this the unique culture of the area and I investment must be made across North feel we have the ingredients for success. Wales to ensure that the best modern “These attractions also have a vital role in one communications technology is available to of the North Wales economy’s biggest drivers, allow small businesses to develop in our rural tourism.” communities and to encourage young people In the Snowdonia National Park data shows to remain in the area. that tourism is the biggest economic sector, “Fundamental to all this is the need to producing close to £400 million each year and maintain and protect our natural landscapes silicon valley in bangor It’s hard to imagine flood water surging model for Colwyn Bay and another through the streets of Rhyl. to raise flood awareness at Pwllheli Imagine if the Forestry Commission for Gwynedd Council. wanted to thin out Newborough CAST Ltd was set up in 2005 Forest and chop down a quarter or and is part of the Technium Wales more of the trees. network, a series of high-tech sites Can you imagine what the Iron which help, support and develop Age hill fort must have looked like at technology businesses. Dinas Dinlle? Colin Morris, Business Support If your imagination has difficulty Manager for Gwynedd Council, said: stretching that far CAST can help. “These are the kind of 21st century facilities you might not expect to The Centre for Advanced Software find in rural North Wales. We may Technology, a wholly owned have some of the most spectacular subsidiary company of Bangor scenery in the UK but we also have University, is based at North Wales’ tremendous technological expertise very own mini ‘silicon valley’ on Parc and the infrastructure to back it up.” Menai, the business park at Bangor. On Anglesey CAST worked with Chief Executive Karen Padmore the Forestry Commission to show heads a team of experts in the the impact felling would have over visualisation section of the the next 20 years at Newborough 6,500sqm high-tech building, which and their growing client list includes will make what you are trying to West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, First imagine a 3D reality. Hydro, Welsh Assembly Government, “We did the flooding model for Menter Môn, Aerospace Wales and Denbighshire County Council,” said Cotswold Canals (showing what Karen: “It was of Rhyl’s waterfront would be involved in re-connecting and we showed what would happen the canal to the River Severn). if there was major flooding.” CAST has also been a lifeline for One of the flood alleviation models highly qualified local graduates who included constructing large steps, might have had to leave North Wales which would give access to the in search of suitable work. One who beach while being able to prevent a was travelling to Manchester has flood surge from washing it away. now found his dream job right on Wayne Hope, Senior Engineer for his doorstep. Denbighshire County Council, said: Karen Padmore of CAST at Technium in Bangor with “It has proved to be a powerful her ‘powerwall’ visualisation screen with visualisation communication tool and has since software engineer Guy Barlow, right, and content been used in many ways and we creators Dominic Haynes, left, and Rhys Davies. look forward to continuing to www.techniumcast.com develop our relationship with CAST.” CAST is now working on a similar by Gwynedd Council and Business Support Manager Colin Morris said: 6lbs of shan’t tell you “It’s great to see them create new jobs and go into new areas. “They are based upon Gwynedd’s oldest industry, agriculture, and this is what Cadwalader’s have been so successful at – taking a traditional product and giving it an attractive, modern flavour.” Even with well over 40 ice cream varieties, the company places great store on innovation and is always looking for new flavours. One of the most exciting new developments says Mr Gloster is a move into e-marketing. Vouchers can be downloaded onto the web and social networking sites can be used to reach the 20-30 age range. By using the web they can concentrate on a 50 mile radius of Second World War. particular cafes with a ‘cold-calling’ “Whether the ice cream still contains When he died in 1983 Cadwalader’s mail shot approach. They can also Dafydd’s secret recipe of 6lbs of shan’t tell was bought by the Andrews family look out for high profile events, such whose South Wales business, as the launch of a new TV series, and you is debatable but it certainly gets its started by Mr Gloster’s great great link products to it. milk fat and cream from South Caernarfon grandfather, Victorian entrepreneur “It’s too early to say how it will go Solomon Andrews, became Castle but it’s certainly exciting to watch,” Creamery” Leisure, now Cadwalader’s sister says Mr Gloster. When ice cream sales are good Llanystumdwy, near Criccieth, company. www.cadwaladersicecream.co.uk even during a freezing cold start predicts he will open four new Whether the ice cream still to the year, you know you have the outlets in the next four years. contains Dafydd’s “secret recipe of business licked. And the traditional family business 6lbs of shan’t tell you” is debatable From a cottage industry started is now looking to the internet and its but it certainly gets its milk fat in the shadow of Criccieth Castle in social networking sites, to increase and cream from South Caernarfon 1927, Cadwalader’s has blossomed sales. Creamery. into a business with 11 outlets and Cadwalader’s Ice Creams was And with well over one million 70 permanent staff, rising to 120-130 started by David and Hannah scoops dished up into cones every in the summer. Cadwalader over 80 years ago in year it’s a successful recipe which Richard Gloster, Chief Executive Castle Street, Criccieth, in a general saw one of its cafes in a national of the company which has its store and the ice cream side was newspaper’s top ten ice creams in headquarters and production developed by one of their larger- the UK. facilities on Parc Amaeth at than-life sons, Dafydd, after the Cadwalader’s has been backed children as her priority, there were “I was going to study limited possibilities for Leyla. politics originally, “The only choice was to be self- and I certainly employed. I thought I would start cooking, I had been brought up couldn’t cook!” with some wonderful flavours and I A teenager who came from the decided to learn how to cook. Then Middle East, married a Welshman, I started selling to local delis and and ran a cottage industry from whoever would buy it. her own North Wales home kitchen “I used to go around shops, delis - now heads a £13m a year food and even workingmen’s clubs or business employing 170. hotels if I was passing.” Leyla Edwards, originally from She and another young mum Saudi Arabia, is managing director went into partnership and rented a of KK Fine Foods, one of the UK’s factory canteen before they opened leading suppliers of ready frozen their first industrial unit near Flint. meals and a company growing even Their first big break came when during the recession. one of the breweries, Bass, was From making a few vegetarian let down by their supplier for meals in her home kitchen vegetarian products and KK stepped and selling them to a local deli in in. Mold while also looking after her They now supply major clients kk ko’s competition three children, Leyla now has more such as Whitbread, Wetherspoons, invited to lunch with the Queen at than 100,000 sqare feet of modern Compass, Cafe Rouge and Marstons. Buckingham Palace. factory on Industrial Park Leyla bought out her partner in KK has countless awards for its and produces more than 360 ready 2001 and in 2002 built the first products, its innovation and for its meal varieties. factory on the Deeside Industrial treatment of staff - it has a very low “We are developing new products Park. turnover and extremely low sickness all the time,” she said: “We have just Her son, Samir, is now KK levels and when they took on Polish beaten a lot of Indian companies commercial manager and daughter workers even provided English to win a major contract to supply Rawia, is business development lessons for them. pub chain Whitbread for their curry manager. Her other daughter, Nadia, She has an excellent relationship nights.” works in real estate in New York. with neighbours Toyota and “I come from Saudi Arabia. I came For 16 years the company was has adopted their Continuous here to finish my education with the supplying only meat-free meals Improvement philosophy. intention of going back. But then I but today 70 per cent of their “We find this really is working and met my husband and that was the production is meat products it’s lovely when you go to a meeting end of that plan: I got married at 19. and four full-time chefs work on and there is a problem and it has “We moved to Afonwen near Mold developments at the Deeside HQ already been solved.” and have lived there for 30 odd where KK employs 170. years. I was going to study politics Leyla was County www.kkfinefoods.co.uk originally, and I certainly couldn’t Council’s Business Person of the cook!” Year in 2009 and in 2007 was one Living in the country with three of 200 top UK business women mountain biking mecca Now the trails which wind through the “If there’s such a stands of pine and spruce are the habitat of bikers and walkers enjoying the thing as the future challenge of the great outdoors. of British mountain They can pull in 1,000 cars a week – that means about 2,500 people with biking Llandegla a busy Sunday typically seeing 1,000 visitors to the 1100 acres of woodland. might well be it.” Oneplanetadventure was begun by mountain biking mates Ian Owen and It’s official, it’s number one – Coed Jim Gaffney when the owners of the Llandegla, with over 200,000 annual lands, UPM Tillhill, were looking for visitors and over 40 kilometres of tracks, additional uses for the forest. is Wales’s top mountain biking centre. It was the kind of job that appealed Who says so? The mountain bikers to local man Ian, from just up the bible, Mountain Biking UK magazine, road in Bwlchgwyn and to Jim, then which has ranked Coed Llandegla the Denbighshire County Council’s best of over 20 centres in Wales. mountain biking officer. That’s music to the ears of the Ian, 42, was not long back from Oneplanetadventure team who run the being the first Briton to ride across the bike centre which has grown in five years Himalayas. He said: “I needed to do to be the biggest tourism attraction in something before I set off on a round the Denbighshire. world bike ride – that’s still the dream. The magazine says: “Our pick of Wales. “UPM Tillhill wanted us to come up No matter what you ride, Llandegla has with a business plan and Jim and I sat it covered. down and did our best but we knew so develop the business.” Knievel and until recently the holder of For the high jump: Oneplanetadventure partners “If there’s such a thing as the future of little that we forgot about VAT and all That business was threatened by the the world record motorbike jump at over Jim Gaffney, left and Ian Owen, with flying bikers British mountain biking Llandegla might our figures were 17 and a half per cent worst winter in over 30 years with up 250 feet. Jason Rennie and Mei Black. well be it.” out.” to two feet of snow closing the trails at Jason also set the world distance And it’s just the latest accolade to They did enough to impress UPM Llandegla for weeks and Ian and Jim record of 134 feet for a pushbike and he be picked up by this mountain biking though and what they lacked in estimate they have lost £100,000. did it at Llandegla in 2008, towed behind Mecca just off the main Wrexham to managerial experience they made up for They’re weathering the financial storm a motorbike until he reached 85mph Ruthin road in the pine forests of Coed in know-how and enthusiasm. though and £1million of new investment when he dropped the rope and shot up Llandegla. It’s a determination that is recognised is going into the centre with new trails the ramp. Their kitchens can cope with 400 by Denbighshire County Council’s including a ferociously fast freeride He’s at Llandegla regularly building people a day and chef Dylan Jones Principal Area Regeneration Officer, Sue track as well as a major new skills area, the new tracks and is a big fan, having bacon bap was voted best in Britain Haygarth who said: “Coed Llandegla recently opened by Wales’s Deputy First known Ian Owen since boyhood. by The Observer newspaper while the is the perfect example of a business Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones. Working hard to improve has been key full breakfast was rated best in Wales realising its vision through expertise and Ian said: “Our average customer is 39 to what Oneplanetadventure have done and two years ago only Glen Tress in determination. years old, lives in Stockport, drives an but, according to Ian, they started with Scotland was judged a better challenge “They have a fantastic natural Audi A3 and earns about £50,000 a year some obvious advantages. for bikers of all standards. environment there for biking but the but that doesn’t mean we don’t cater for “We’re within two hours drive for a Only five years ago the only people skill is in recognising that magnificent everyone else.” third of the population of the UK,” he wandering the forest roads would be resource and having the knowhow to Everyone else includes the likes of the said: “I’ve been lucky enough to ride all loggers taking out timber for UPM take advantage of it and make it happen amazing Atherton family from Oswestry, over the world and every time I come (United Paper Mills) Tillhill, owners of and in having sympathetic owners in Gee, Dan and Rachel, champions all, and back I realise just how good the riding the woodland, for their giant paper UPM Tillhill who have allowed them to Jason Rennie, Wales’s answer to Evel is here.” production plant at nearby Shotton. racing ahead Sunlight glints off the Irish Sea and in the distance towering Snowdon peeps through the clouds, while choughs nest on the protected land around you.

Trac Môn – the motor racing circuit on material they needed for the sub base of the Jones suggested that the service roads could Anglesey – is setting a hot green pace in the track, and so they did....saving thousands of be used for motorsport and events started in gas-guzzling world of motorsport as it aims to lorry trips along the island’s narrow roads. the early 1990s, attracting the attention of the be the world’s first carbon neutral racetrack. Two sites of special scientific interest (SSSI’s) Wirral 100 motorcycle club. The Anglesey circuit already has a wind were granted on neighbouring land, after The circuit started to develop for racing turbine and sells electricity back to the the establishment of the circuit. Heather under the influence of -based driver national grid while its eco-friendly attitude to was transplanted and even the asphalt track Richard Peacock as a consultant between development sees it vying with the Atlanta surface was laid cold to save energy - and 1994-97. Richard designed the new circuit Motorsports Park in Georgia, USA, for the title laid by Jones Brothers of Ruthin to within an and is now the circuit’s operations director. He of the world’s first carbon neutral circuit. incredible 3mm tolerance, giving Anglesey one also operates the circuit’s Performance Driving And while there may be expensive cars or of the smoothest race surfaces in Britain. Centre. motorcycles hurtling full throttle around the “We even have our own wind turbine which A major £4.2m investment, which track, but there’s no denying Anglesey Circuit, generates some energy and we can pump attracted support from the Welsh Assembly Trac Môn, with its views of Snowdon and the some back into the grid and we’re working Government, created a 2.1 mile international Irish Sea and surrounded by scientifically on becoming carbon neutral - the race is on circuit, a 1.55m coastal circuit, a 1.55m national important countryside, is the most beautifully between us and the Atlanta Motorsports Park circuit and a 0.8m club circuit, designed to sited circuit in the UK. to become the first,” said Andrew, who said the challenge both amateurs and professionals. In fact Anglesey Circuit at Ty Croes has won green approach came from company director With its breathtaking backdrop, the Anglesey the prestigious annual Anglesey Tourism George William Meyrick’s interest in the Circuit is a favourite with many of the specialist Association Award in the tourism and the company’s environmental policies. motoring and motorcycling magazines and a environment category. Isle of Anglesey Council’s Business firm favourite for the Fifth Gear TV team. The circuit has been through a major Development Manager Jon Pinnington said: It is also regularly used by companies who reconfiguration when the company “It is wonderful that the circuit is able to fit want to test their products with electric cars constructed a new 12 metre wide track which so naturally into the environment and share and electric motorcycles finding their way brings it within the standard offered by the it happily with rare bird species, hares and around the track, along with a formidable country’s major race venues - in Britain, only butterflies. Formula 1 Benetton race car. Silverstone is wider at 15m. “That’s what we are trying to foster here, The Performance Driving Centre is in its 32nd Given its location on the west cutting edge technology co-existing with our year of operation and has attracted customers coast cliffs, company press beautiful natural countryside and coast.” from around the world. officer Andrew Môn The circuit is part of the Bodorgan Estate. Just While Anglesey will never become an F1 Hughes says they after the Second War the Ministry of Defence venue, Andrew believes it is definitely within decided why not compulsorily purchased the land where the its reach to attract some of the other big quarry the track sits, but offered part of it back when they calendar events such as British Superbikes and left in the late 1980s. Formula 3. Local farmer and rally cross enthusiast Ned www.angleseycircuit.com Some mornings Ed Burke has to pinch himself to make sure it’s real. He lives and works in an idyllic North Wales village, doing the job he glassmakers go green loves creating beautiful glassware, involving his whole family in the business “We came here which successfully sells its because it’s products all over the world. beautiful, it was “Coming to North Wales was the best move we ever the best move we made,” said Sunderland- ever made” born Ed. And life just got even better – and more profitable – since Wrexham Council has helped pay half the cost of materials through the Welsh Assembly Government’s European Agricultural Rural Development Grant Project. That’s enabled Ed to build a new state-of-the-art furnace at E&M Glass, the company of industrial units which he and Birkenhead-born is no doubt very efficient. wife Margaret set up in But I can open a door or 1988 in Tallarn Green village window and look out down south of Wrexham. a single track road with New more heat efficient trees either side to a hump- materials in the furnace “We went looking for a nice Tim, 16, and Josh, eight, help with accessing grant galleries and museums. backed bridge. I think we have reduced their place to live. When we had help out whenever they can schemes and training – Although about 25% can make more attractive electricity bills from about been at college we used to and the company employs so it’s always incredibly of business now comes things because of our £900 a month to £194 and go for weekend drives to three full-time and one part- uplifting to hear about through the web, getting environment. reduced the consumption beautiful places and this time workers. success stories like E&M the business established “We came here because of propane gas by about a was one of the areas we Glass.” Councillor Rodney was not easy, it involved it’s beautiful, it was the best third. used to drive to. Skelland, Wrexham Ed has always had a months away travelling to move we ever made,” said It was soon after the “My father-in-law found Council’s lead member for passion for glass blowing so the USA, Middle East, Japan, Ed. Brixton riots in the 80’s that this place and it was ideal,” regeneration and corporate living and working ‘on the and Europe, anywhere they talented glass artists, Ed said Ed. governance, said: “It’s job’ 24-7 is not a problem. If could find a market. and Margaret, who met and What he found was the always encouraging to hear he didn’t do it for a living it Top US stores, like graduated together at North old village bakery in Tallarn about local firms thriving – would be his hobby. Bloomingdales and Saks, Staffordshire Polytechnic, Green, complete with a especially when the people Ed and Margaret make take their work and they decided that they no longer cottage and old shop. With involved are so passionate tableware, which is the have orders for gifts for wanted to work for other a loan and help from the about their work and about business mainstay, but also directors of American glass blowers in London and former Welsh Development Wrexham as a base for their special pieces which are Express. needed somewhere better Agency, Ed and Margaret business. given as awards – they have Ed said: “The beauty of it is to raise baby Charlie, the converted the bakery over “There are lots of ways in done commissions for the they know a piece of work first of their three sons, who about 10 months into their which the Council supports Stock Exchange. They also has been done by us. has just graduated – in glass studio. local businesses – from make glass finials and do “Most of my friends in the design. Charlie, 23, and now sons, advicewww.emglass.co.uk and guidance to special commissions for glass business work out www.handmadeglass.net a real glass act Broken windows and empty wine Business Advisor, said: “Gaenor has bottles have provided the inspiration for already proven with outstanding a successful businesswoman who has sales figures that she has a keen eye and judgement for what jewellery launched her own line of delicate and will sell well and it just seemed distinctive eco-friendly jewellery made natural and logical for her to start from recycled glass. producing her own designs and In the workshop at the back of product range.” her Abergele shop, Gaenor Roberts Gaenor added: “You see as a transforms the rawest of unwanted family how much glass ends up in materials into beautiful and stylish recycling bins so I thought why not pendants and earrings as part of try and use it. My dad was getting her thriving jewellery company. rid of a window so I pinched it from Using bits of broken glass, curling him!” strands of copper from discarded And so her new line of jewellery, electrician wire and things you called ecotlws, was born but it took might find in any household some experimenting for Gaenor to drawer, such as tap washers, work out how to bind the recycled Gaenor, 39, a mother-of-three, has glass together without cracking it developed and refined her skills as in the kiln. a glass artist. She said: “New glass will fuse The idea to use recycled glass into a solid piece but recycled came when she thought about glass looks like it has been glued how to make her business, called together rather than fused. ‘tlws’ which means pretty and jewel “This gives it a more natural look, in Welsh, more environmentally it is more primitive in appearance. friendly. People like the natural, earthy Conwy Rural Partnership’s Rural looking colours, the greens, the Business Action funded by the Rural browns.” Development Plan 2008-10 gave her a grant for almost £2,000 to www.tlws.co.uk buy two kilns and she said: “It was quite a risky step, particularly as I had never even cut a piece of glass before but I felt that the Council believed in me so I felt I should go for it.” Trefor Rowlands, Conwy Council john’s vision for success A successful businessman from North Wales has The business is now based in a modern, Business Advisor Trish Carlin said: “John it too much.” defied his disability to create a successful, multi- 60,000 square foot factory with the latest and Pauline have changed their business John, who received the MBE in 1996 for sophisticated production equipment strategies in line with market trends and services to industry, still enjoys going for a million pound company. and they supply giants like Morrisons they continue to be an inspiration to all the quiet pint and walking the dogs as well as John Dale lost his sight at the age of 11 but and Superdrug as well as north-western young people who may have business ideas his regular weekly tandem cycle rides with 53 years later he is at the head of John Dale supermarket chain Booths and discount but lack the confidence to achieve.” his pal, Roger Hewitt, who he was in school Ltd, a tissue paper company based in Flint stores Home & Bargain and B & M Stores and John certainly makes light of his blindness: with “when I could still see but I still have to which employs more than 50 people and their products have even been exported to “The secret is to have good people around tell him which way to go.” turned over £6.5 million last year. Libya. you,” he said. “We’ve got really nice people It’s a staggering achievement by the They’ve had backing from Flintshire County here who to stay with us. We’re like a family 64-year-old from Flint Mountain and if that’s Council over the years and Flintshire’s Senior so I’ve got no thoughts of retirement. I’d miss www.johndale.co.uk not amazing enough – when he wants to unwind he goes for a long cycle ride – he’s even done Land’s End to John O’Groats. Not bad for a blind youngster who left school to work in a humdrum job before he and wife Pauline went into business selling home-made nappy liners round Flintshire’s markets. He explained: “I had a growth on one eye at the age of nine and that was taken away and then at 11 I’m pretty sure I suffered a detached retina, either by falling off a bike or by running into a hedge, the sort of daft things boys do. “But I was lucky when I came out of school and got a job at a paper factory in . I was bored out of my skull but it was a job and I was very grateful for it.” He was made redundant but he and wife Pauline were nothing if not resourceful. He said: “We started buying paper and polythene bags on credit and selling them around the markets. We’d make enough money to pay back what we borrowed with a bit left over. “We bought some special paper that was going to waste. It was stretchy and highly absorbent and we started making it into nappy liners.” Pauline recalled: “We started in the shed in the garden with a guillotine and a Stanley knife and then we moved onto an old farm building.” “We pride ourselves on the close relationship our staff have with the bright future company”

A North Wales factory is getting at least £5K worth of free electricity thanks to its “power cable to the sun.” Llay, near Wrexham, may seem like an unlikely setting for Europe’s most advanced manufacturer of solar products, but Sharp Manufacturing Company of UK is working round the clock to fulfil orders for photovoltaic (PV) panels and the future looks even brighter. “We cannot make enough. Our order books are full just covering European demand, without looking at the future UK market,” said Steve Crewe, HR and General Affairs Manager, who has worked at Sharp in Llay since it opened back in 1984. Today the majority of the 400 permanent employees, who are supplemented by agency staff, are producing PV panels, up to 95 per cent of which are destined for European export, Steve Crewe at the Solar Centre in Sharp, Llay mainly Germany. to generate electricity through their solar panels, putting The factory has a 55 kilowatt system of panels on its site But with the UK now catching up with the introduction of power into the national grid. which since it was installed has generated 11 kilowatts of the feed-in tariff, Sharp is proactively helping to develop the power to give many of its offices and its new Solar Centre solar industry in the UK by opening a solar education centre “We are running a 24-7 operation and can produce more free power. and installer training academy. than 5,000 panels in a 24 hour period” said Steve. “We have been producing photovoltaic panels here since 2004.” Sharp, which describes its photovoltaic panels as a “power As the number of solar installers increase throughout the cable to the sun” says with conventional energy resources UK, consumers will be able to harness the power of the sun The fact that world-leader Sharp chose to invest so heavily in its North Wales factory when video production died out, such as oil, gas and coal running out before the end of this is a tribute to the local workforce. “We had to tender to get century, solar power is the most important source of energy the work and it helped that we had such a motivated and for the human race. flexible workforce,” said Steve. www.sharpmanufacturing.co.uk It’s also a source of pride for the area according to Wrexham Council Lead Member for Regeneration Councillor Rodney Skelland who said: “The way Sharp has adapted and developed to keep pace with the world is a tribute to the company’s vision and the commitment and skill of the local workforce. “Reducing carbon emissions and energy use is one of the Council’s corporate priorities so it’s great to know that Wrexham is playing its part in helping the world harness the energy of the sun.” we’ve got the power

Angesey is becoming a powerhouse. the college and which should be up and wants to build at a new nuclear power job market could benefit from such a “To transform an underperforming Up to 1,700 permanent new jobs will running within the next 12 months. station at Wylfa, a project which can development due to its close proximity economy, the Isle of Anglesey County be created as ‘Energy Island’ finds itself “It’s a very exciting project and we deliver 800 permanent jobs rising to and deep port located at Holyhead,” said Council is working to develop its Energy the centre of a new low carbon economy. are looking forward to being able to 1,000 and up to 5,000 construction jobs. Sasha Wynn Davies, Anglesey’s Head of Island Framework with key stakeholders, Nuclear, biomass, wind, tides and other make an impact and contribute to the Horizon hopes to commission the new Economic Development. including UK Government, Welsh power sources are set to contribute sustainability of a very exciting future,” reactor by 2020. Long term nPower and Marine Current Assembly Government and Nuclear literally billions of pounds towards the he said. An application has been made by Turbine are looking at tidal power Decommissioning Authority,” said Sasha. value of the regional economy between “We are going to be needed to help Anglesey Aluminium Metals Renewables while in the short term Energy Island “Anglesey already has a strong tradition now and 2025. raise the skill levels, to train and re-train Ltd for a £600m new biomass power Framework will look to back small of low carbon energy generation, both Three projects alone will create up our young people so that they will be station alongside its recently mothballed scale energy developments such as nuclear and renewable. Coupled with to 1,700 permanent jobs and 5,600 able to gain employment within the new aluminium smelter at Holyhead. photovoltaic systems, small wind, micro an unrivalled potential and desire to construction jobs on the island. and developing energy sector.” This would be one of the largest of its wind, solar hot water, heat and power capitalise on the future low carbon The stand-alone centre will cover kind in the world, providing up to 3 per from waste, hydrogen and alternative energy generation opportunities, the First Minister Carwyn James has already transport fuels. Energy Island Framework offers an (Jun 16) signed the Anglesey Energy energy and fabrication assessment cent of the UK’s renewable electricity and training programmes, from welding to could be up and running by 2013. It has What this contributes to the economy exceptional opportunity to strengthen Island Collaboration Agreement at the Island’s economic future. Coleg Menai on behalf of the Assembly a health and safety hub, to a sustainable the potential for 100 new operating jobs – what economists call gross value Government, along with Anglesey energy area to train and upskill people and about 70 in the crop supply chain, as added (GVA) and helps determine a “By integrating the economic, County Council and its key stakeholders, who are perhaps already in the business well as 600 for the construction phase. region’s gross domestic product (GDP) environmental and skills agendas, including Conwy and Gwynedd County such as heating installers and engineers. Centrica Renewable Energy could – is a staggering £2.34bn of GVA in Anglesey aims to bring about a Councils, Magnox North, Horizon Nuclear “We need to give people the skills they create another 525 jobs if its plans for a Anglesey and the north west of Wales transformational change in culture and Power, Coleg Menai, Bangor University, require to work in sustainable energy new wind farm nine miles off Anglesey from construction and operational fortune to establish the Island as a low and the National Skills Academy For industries such as photovoltaic, solar, get the go ahead. The 4.2GW wind farm employment and supply chains between carbon living exemplar in the Western Nuclear. wind turbines, ground and air source in the Irish Sea would cover an area of now and 2025. World,” she added. Coleg Menai’s director of technology heating, for which we will need to 1,367 square miles. “New employment opportunities on David Price will head the new £4.5m, acquire specialist training staff.” “Developing in the Irish Sea zone could the Isle of Anglesey, both direct and mainly Assembly-funded, Energy and Later this year Horizon Nuclear Power dramatically increase renewable energy indirect, are intrinsically linked to the Fabrication Training Centre being built at Ltd will announce the type of reactor it outputs and Anglesey’s economy and development of a new low carbon economy. contacts

Jon Pinnington Peter Scott Isle of Anglesey County Council Wrexham County Borough Council 01248 752075 01978 292405 [email protected] [email protected] www.anglesey.gov.uk www.wrexham.gov.uk

Patricia Carlin Sue Haygarth Flintshire County Council Denbighshire County Council 01352 703042 01824 708083 [email protected] [email protected] www.flintshire.gov.uk www.denbighshire.gov.uk

Colin Morris Linda Ford Gwynedd Council Conwy County Borough Council 01286 679677 01492 574501 [email protected] [email protected] www.gwynedd.gov.uk www.conwy.gov.uk

Alistair Syme Ceidiog Communication 01824 703073 07758 841012 [email protected]

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