Gwynt y Môr Tourism Fund Backs New Tourism Venture along North Wales coast

The Tourism Fund associated with Gwynt y Môr Offshore Wind Farm is to support a major new partnership to promote tourism facilities across the North Wales coastal strip.

The £170,000 Green Links project will bring together and promote, under one umbrella initiative, a range of attractions between Llandudno and Prestatyn, linking walking and cycling opportunities, with nature reserves and other facilities.
It has been developed by both Conwy County Borough Council and Denbighshire County Council, and will support officers from both local authorities working together. Central to the project is a new full-time post, created and funded specifically to take a lead in managing and delivering all aspects of the scheme. Daniel Romberg, from Bangor, has been appointed Green Links Project Officer.

RWE npower renewables (RWE) and its partners in Gwynt y Môr earmarked a specific fund of £690,000 to support tourism related initiatives during the construction of the 160 turbine wind farm in Liverpool Bay.

RWE’s Gwynt y Môr Project Manager, Vince Read, said: “I am delighted that a tourism project which unites initiatives across the Denbighshire and Conwy coastlines is being funded by the Gwynt y Môr Tourism Fund. “As a keen cyclist myself, I know that the route of the Green Links project between Llandudno and Prestatyn will provide excellent views of our new wind farm, giving visitors the opportunity to understand the benefits it will provide.

“This is the fourth project to be backed by our Tourism Fund, with more expected to be announced next year.”

The Green Links initiative is centred around the route of the North Wales coastal cycle path and aims to sign-post visitors to attractions and places of interest along the way. Funding of £130,000 has been allocated to the Green Links project by the Gwynt y Môr Tourism Fund to provide infrastructure improvements, interpretation hubs along the route as well as the creation of a new website and booklet with detailed information. The remaining £40,000 is being provided by the two local authorities.

The construction of Gwynt y Môr to date, has enabled the injection of over £350million into the UK supply chain, been responsible for creating and securing employment for over 2,500 people in the UK, and expects to sustain over 110 jobs long term, from a new multi-million pound operations and maintenance base, which will be built in North Wales. At the same time, North Wales Communities have been consulted on how to most usefully invest over £19million in community funding over the wind farm’s working lifetime – a topic crucial to Welsh and UK government in the delivery of energy policy. This is in addition to the £690,000 Tourism Fund.

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Press release, December 13, 2013; Image: RWE