‘Outsiders’ gain from jobs boom

Jun 4 2008 by David Rutland, Vale Advertiser

MORE than half the new jobs created in Denbighshire during the last decade have been taken by people from outside the area.

Figures recently released show a 27% jump in the number of people employed in the Vale of Clwyd between 1997 and 2007.

Many of these are on newly built or developed business parks throughout the county and Vale of Clwyd MP Chris Ruane warns local people are not getting their fair share.

“Most of the 6,000 new jobs are on the St Asaph Business Park,” he said.

“And we’ve got a huge new cancer and renal centre at the hospital.

“As well as those we’ve got smaller, more discrete projects in poorer areas.

“We’ve got the Cefndy and Ffordd Las industrial estates and the Rhyl college, which employs hundreds, and the Denbigh college, which employs dozens.

“But many of the people taking these new jobs live outside the area. They come in on the A55 or from the south.

“Creating these jobs is a great opportunity but we need to make sure the opportunities are not just taken by people travelling into the area from outside.

“We’ve got great assets in our community and most people don’t know about them.”

The Vale of Clwyd was not the only area to have seen a spurt in the number of jobs available.

Caernarfon has seen 9,000 extra people in employment, Ynys Môn an extra 7,000, Clwyd West gained 8,000 and Wrexham 6,000.

The Conwy constituency saw no net change.

Mr Ruane is keen to see the next generation of North Walians take advantage of the skilled jobs available in the area and believes training should begin early.

“We need to make sure that our primary school children are taken to places like Technium Optic on the St Asaph Business Park and shown the good practices that we’ve got,” he said.

“The business community knows what kinds of business opportunities are available and we need to ensure that pupils in schools know what kinds of jobs are available for them.”

david.rutland