Council’s Executive Board agree to back Kop project with ‘circa £2.5 million’ to move Wrexham Gateway forward

Wrexham Council are allocating a substantial sum to “…bring forward spend on works required to progress key elements” of the western side of the Gateway project.

Earlier this month we reported how Wrexham Council were set to approve an unknown seven figure commitment to the regeneration of the Racecourse as part of the ‘Wrexham Gateway’ project – now more detail has emerged.

The Gateway project appears to be gaining speed with the announcement yesterday that the football club were at an advanced stage to acquire the freehold of the stadium, something they had described as “one of the conditions of the club’s significant financial contribution” to the project.

Back in 2020 land to the rear of the Kop had been acquired by Welsh Government, and last year they announced a £25m funding package for the eastern part of the project.

On Tuesday Wrexham Council’s Executive Board discussed a report titled “Wrexham Gateway Delivery Plan” in a private ‘Part 2’ of the meeting, but before digitally excluding the press and public Council Leader Mark Pritchard said, “We are all aware the delivery of the Wrexham Gateway is a multimillion pound project that will see the regeneration of the Mold Road corridor. The reason we go into Part 2 is obviously due to finance, procurement, land acquisition, land discussions – and I’ll stop there.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank our partners, this has been a true collaboration. I want to say a big thank you to the Welsh Government, Wrexham Glyndwr University, Football Association of Wales, Transport for Wales and last but not least Wrexham AFC and the new owners – it is a massive project for us all.

“I would have liked this discussion to be in open but we can’t because of the reasons I’ve given. So I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to thank everybody, for all the hard work and commitment that they’ve given us so far, working into partnership to improve the gateway.”

Cllr Phill Wynn flattered, “I think you’re actually missing yourself, and the coalition off, that list of partnership working because without your commitment to the project maybe it wouldn’t be where it is now.”

Cllr Pritchard brushed off the compliment, and did not widen out the thanks to councillors outside the ruling coalition who have voiced support, “Thank you for that and I do apologise, I should have mentioned the Executive Board members and the coalition”.

The content of the ‘Part 2’ secret meeting is unknown but what has emerged from the local authority is a brief overview of the formal decisions and actions reached.

The Chief Executive Ian Bancroft, with oversight from Council Leader Mark Pritchard, has been authorised to continue with the Wrexham Gateway plan, and “work with partners on the commissioning of specialist external support to develop the delivery plan”.

A second round application for the Levelling Up Fund will go ahead ‘similar in nature and content’ to the first round declined bid.

The Council’s Finance Officer will earmark around £2.5 million as a development fund “towards the potential cost to bring forward spend on works required to progress key elements of the project”, the first time a figure has been made public to the level of support.

The same officer has been given the power to ‘consider and agree appropriate due diligence on the benefits and liabilities of the acquisition of land’ specifically inside the red lines of the project area. The goal is stated as securing public ownership, “…to provide the Council with a tangible stake in the future regeneration of the Wrexham Gateway”. Stakeholders inside the boundary will be engaging with the Chief Executive, with full authorisation and backing from the Executive Board.

The project area has been previously defined as the below as illustrated via some early images for the project, however the specific red line plan signed off on this week is again, confidential.

Although the ‘circa £2.5m’ sum is large, it is likely only to be around 15-25% of the Kop project.

The ambition for the Kop is to build a new large stand along with enhancing the stadium to enable it to attract top level competitive international standard sport, with UEFA requirements seen as a benchmark to that aim. The FAW have now been confirmed as a formal partner, noting a commitment to bring the full spectrum of international football to the Racecourse ‘on a regular basis’ – if the stadium is up to it. (As we have previously reported, could this be Wales v Scotland?)

The overall Gateway project is estimated to require a total investment of around £80-£90 million with estimated public sector subsidies of between £40 and £45 million.

Previously Wrexham.com asked Wrexham Council Chief Executive Ian Bancroft about a recent project update that included this funding, and was told how the ‘funding early expenditure’ could be vital to avoid part of the project being lost, “The aim is to increase deliverability of those elements in terms of the Levelling Up bid. One of the key considerations for the Levelling Up fund is the money has to be spent by March 2024 no matter which round you’re in.

“So if you are successful in the first round, you had a longer period to spend. So if you’re successful in the second round you have a shorter window. So our concern is that if we don’t start works in advance of the actual success of any bid, we may not be able to complete them.

“So that’s the importance of starting delivery on the western side of the gateway in advance of knowing the outcome of the bid, because otherwise there’s a danger we won’t be able to complete what we bid for. Deliverability will increase the chances of success of the scheme.”

We asked what would happen if the Levelling Up bid was unsuccessful again, leaving the council having prepaid banking on success, Mr Bancroft said: “There are a number of options for what may happen with funding over the next nine months and we’re constantly assessing those in terms of what that means for our options and deliverability.

“It is really important with this project in terms of scanning the horizon and thinking about what will happen if we’re not successful. So all that planning is going on in the background in terms of keeping all our options open at this stage.

“The key is to make sure that in an ideal world, if we’re successful with this, we’ve got money to both deliver the eastern side, the train station, the western side, the Kop and associated facilities.”

We also asked over the appropriateness of Wrexham Council using public money to part fund an improvement to what will likely be a private asset, noting the wealthy new owners of the football club who are happy to pay mega-bucks-for-the-league six figure sums on players.

Mr Bancroft replied: “I think the line on this for us has always been really, really clear that in essence, there are two elements to the investment into the western side.

“One is enhancing the ground for the football club, and that is obviously why the football club are a partner – and a funding partner.

“The second is bringing that ground up to international standard as the oldest international football ground in the world, as an events stadium for North Wales. It’s those elements that we want to invest in, in terms of public funding.

“I think that balance of private funding going into a private interest and public funding going into what is publicly really important facilities, that’s the balance that we get right. It is absolutely critical, and it’s appropriate with that balance of private and public funding.”

Mr Bancroft detailed how the rejection feedback on the first Levelling Up bid praised the strategic and ‘value for money’ elements of the bid, but raised concerns around deliverability, effectively triggering this move, “So that’s the feedback, and that’s why we’re focusing on the deliverability aspects”.