Grant funding totalling more than £2.5 million has been approved for Neath Port Talbot Council by the Welsh Assembly Government.
The package will enable the authority to embark on a range of schemes during the current financial year.
The funding is part of a group of projects submitted by the authority under the Assembly’s Western Valleys Strategic Regeneration Area (SRA) programme which aims to target regeneration funding to areas of greatest need.
The initiative will target social and economic deprivation with schemes designed to improve skill levels, increase employment and economic activity and bring communities together.
The Western Valleys initiative will initially cover the period from 2009 to 2012.
The schemes currently approved include projects involving the Glynneath Training Centre and the Dove Workshop and projects of environmental improvements in some of the valley communities. Further schemes are currently being assessed and full details of the projects will be released as they receive Assembly Government approval.
The council, together with the Assembly Government and local community groups will be working hard over the next few months to complete designs and start work.
Neath Port Talbot Council Leader Councillor Ali Thomas said: “This Assembly initiative is to be welcomed by everyone in the valleys.
“The projects will provide a major boost to some of the most deprived areas in South Wales and, with the initiative set to run for at least another two years, will give us the opportunity to make a lasting difference to the quality of life in our valley communities.”
Leighton Andrews, Deputy Minister for Regeneration, said the creation of a SRA provided a strategic focus that offered a real opportunity to tackle the social and economic problems that currently blight many communities in the region.
“I am pleased that we are able to support a number of projects in Neath Port Talbot that are designed to address skills and training issues as well as helping to improve the quality of life for local people through environmental improvements.”
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