Page 7 - Nigel Brinn News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The creation of a £150 million rail testing centre in the county has taken another step forward with the submission of plans to Powys County Council. The Welsh Government’s new ‘Global Centre of Rail Excellence’ – the first of its kind in the UK – is expected to be fully operational by 2025, bringing up to 300 jobs to the area. It will be constructed at Nant Helen opencast coal mine, near Ystradgynlais, and Onllwyn coal washery and distribution centre, after Celtic Energy ends its operations at the mine later this year. Under the plans, a 6.9 kilometre high-speed testing t...

The creation of a £150 million rail testing centre in Powys has taken another step forward with the submission of plans to Powys County Council. The Welsh Government’s new ‘Global Centre of Rail Excellence’ – the first of its kind in the UK – is expected to be fully operational by 2025, bringing up to 300 jobs to the area. It will be constructed at Nant Helen opencast coal mine, near Ystradgynlais, and Onllwyn coal washery and distribution centre, after Celtic Energy ends its operations at the mine later this year. Under the plans, a 6.9 kilometre high-speed testing track ...

The facility will be connected to the main Brecon to Neath line, with signalling upgrades also planned as part of the project. Plans for the Onllwyn site include a control centre, a research and development facility, maintenance sheds and staff overnight accommodation. The site spans the Powys/Neath Port Talbot border and identical planing applications have been submitted to both councils. A planning statement prepared by Ove Arup and Partners, on behalf of the Welsh Government, says the project will be “a catalyst for the creation of a rail technology hub in Wales”. The first...

Money from a £1.8 million Covid recovery fund in Powys could be used to fix potholed roads in the county. Extra funding of over £2.8 million given by the Welsh Government to fund costs of dealing with the pandemic, had allowed the Independent/Conservative cabinet to re-jig the budget last week, and saw a council tax increase drop from 3.9 per cent, to 2.9 per cent. This also freed up money to be used for the recovery fund. Director and Economy and Environment, Nigel Brinn, explained the fund’s purpose. He said: “It was great to see the council support this proposal last week...

Festive bin collections PROPOSALS to move from a three weekly to a four weekly collection of black bin rubbish have been dumped out of Powys Council’s 2021/22 budget. The idea was part of a package of cuts and savings proposals in the draft Powys County Council budget worth a total of £11.828 million. In total the cuts and savings expected from the Highways, Transport and Recycling Service total £980,000, and the change in collection would potentially have saved £50,000. But at a meeting of the economy, residents communities and governance scrutiny committee on Thursday, January ...