14 March 2008
A Blaenau Gwent mining village is celebrating the £15 million restoration that has revived its schools and community facilities. At the heart of it all is the Miners Institute - saved from dereliction and decay.
First Minister Rhodri Morgan AM visited the village of Llanhilleth on Friday, 14 March 2008, to see the new school, sports pavilion and restored Institute building. He said that the Llanhilleth Area Regeneration Scheme (LARS) was a model of how to breathe new life into a Valleys community – “state-of-the-art” regeneration.
Funding for the six years of community regeneration has come from the Welsh Assembly Government, via Communities First and the Heads of the Valleys Programme, and also from Europe’s Objective 1 programme, the Big Lottery Fund and Blaenau Gwent Council.
The driving force has been the locally-led community partnership that set up the Llanhilleth Area Regeneration Scheme (LARS). The First Minister was the special guest of local people and organisations who have been part of the scheme.
First Minister Rhodri Morgan said:
“We have seen the ‘Stute restored – that’s fantastic. We can see the new school – that’s fantastic.
“This is a whole package because there is the railway station and village square to come. It’s brought new life and it is wonderful to see what can be done to regenerate the Valleys.
“Here in Llanhilleth we have state-of-the-art regeneration – and it’s what you deserve.
“This massive restoration project has really given Llanhilleth a heart transplant and will provide a wide range of services for local people. With the help of Assembly Government funding, the ‘Stute - a landmark building - has been transformed and will now provide an important resource that will bring many benefits to the local community.”
The First Minister unveiled a commemorative plaque in the newly restored Miners Institute. As part of the area regeneration, the 102-year-old building has been brought back to life with Welsh Assembly Government funding via European Structural Funds and the Communities. Rhodri Morgan toured the historic building to see the restoration work.
The £2.3 million restoration provides a new function hall with bar, community café, training rooms, IT facilities, an interactive library, a mobile crèche as well as two doctors’ surgeries.
Traditional features have been revived at the Institute – but in a 21st century way. The IT suite replaces the old miners’ reading room, the resource centre has been built above the old basement swimming pool and the main hall is fully restored with it’s fine Canadian maple wood sprung dance floor back in place. The St Iltyds Resource Centre houses various agencies including the St Iltyds Communities First.
Blaenau Gwent Council Leader, Cllr Hedley McCarthy said:
“I am proud to have been involved from the start with a community that has worked so hard and successfully on this tremendous area regeneration scheme. We can now see the transformation that has taken place and the fulfilment of the vision of the miners who built the Institute in 1906.”
The Llanhilleth Area Regeneration Scheme (LARS) successes over the last three years include:
- New St Illtyd’s Primary School – replacing two old village schools
- Riverside sports pavilion and pitches
- Modern premises for the Llanhilleth Workingmen’s Club
- Three industrial units generating local employment
- Doctors’ surgery at the Miners Institute
- Llanhilleth Station – due to open very soon as part of the Ebbw Valley Railway
- New Llanhilleth village square – work now underway.
Kate Terrell, Chair of the St Illtyds Communities First Partnership said:
“We are all really proud of what has been accomplished already and look forward to developing the services and opportunities that the scheme underpins.”
Leading South Wales Architects, Austin-Smith: Lord produced a master plan for Llanhilleth in 2001, and since then have worked with the Council and the local community. The next phase will be to improve the town’s central square.
The firm has considerable expertise in working with historic buildings. Partner Martin Rowe said:
“The plan has been sympathetic to the building’s historic status and the modern needs of the community it now serves. It has been a most rewarding project from our point of view.”
