Rhyl City Strategy

Secretary of State for North Wales Peter Hain today (15th September) hailed the success of a North Wales Partnership to create 320 new jobs in Conwy and Denbighshire with funding from a £1billion UK-wide Government employment initiative.

The Rhyl City Strategy Community Interest Company is set to create 322 jobs in construction, retail, health and social care over the next 18 months with financial support for the Department of Work and Pension run Future Jobs Fund scheme.

Mr Hain, who met with members of the Rhyl City Strategy Group at Coleg Llandrillo Rhyl last week to hear about the scheme, said: "This is fantastic news.  More that 320 young people in Conwy and Denbighshire are set to benefit from this project.  It will help to get people back into the world of work with proper jobs being create in the fields of construction, retail, health, sports coaching and social care."

"This will give young people the opportunity to learn new skills and build their confidence in the workplace.  These are the kind of jobs which are vital to help tackle the current downturn.  We know that young people aged between 18 and 24 who fall out of work during difficult times are scarred for life and are likely to never work again."

"Having met with the Rhyl City Strategy partners last week, I was greatly impressed by their commitment and am confident this initiative will provide much-needed jobs and opportunities in the Rhyl area and beyond.  They will be creating real jobs for young people, will be paying minimum wage, will be employing people for a minimum of 25 hours a week and the jobs will for a least six months."

The jobs in Conwy and Denbighshire are among the 7,500 jobs being created across the UK by successful bids under Future Jobs Fund PRogramme announced today.  This brings the total of jobs that will be create through Future Jobs Fund so far to almost 55,000.

In July Mr Hain announced the successful bids from the first tranche of Future Jobs Funding, which will create up to another 2,000 new jobs in Wales through to 2011.

Mr Hain added: "We're determined to do everything we can to help young people get their first job despite the recession. Never again must we see a generation lost to work.  That's why it's so important to support initiatives such as this one in North Wales to give thousands of young people a kick start in their careers."