Construction work on a new active travel route for the Welsh Government-owned Brocastle site in Bridgend has started following a £2m investment.
The route - which is about 3km south east of Bridgend town centre and runs parallel with the A48 - will link the 116-acre site next to now closed Ford engine plant at Brocastle with the Waterton roundabout, 2km to the north west.
It will include the building of a 2km cycleway, kerbing and surfacing works, new signalised road crossings, replacement traffic signals and street lighting.
Read more: Former Ford engine plant in South Wales up for sale
It is expected to be completed by the autumn this year.
The £2m funding for the active travel route, provided by the Welsh Government, is the final package of the wider infrastructure works on the Brocastle site.
Construction will be undertaken by Abergavenny-based civil engineering contractor Alun Griffiths.
Once completed, the active travel route design, developed collaboratively with Sustrans, Bridgend and Vale of Glamorgan councils, will be adopted as highway and maintained by the Local Highways Authorities.
Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said: "As part of our plans to create a more prosperous Welsh economy, the Welsh Government is working hard to help create new job opportunities in the communities people live.
“The strategic employment site we have developed at Brocastle provides a great location for us to attract new businesses to Bridgend. I am pleased to confirm parts of the Brocastle site are already under offer. We have a strong pipeline of further enquiries from a range of owner-occupiers and developers.
“The completion of the active travel route will further enhance the accessibility and attractiveness of the site to potential new tenants.”
Minister for Climate Change Julie James said: “We need to take bold action to tackle climate change, so I’m pleased we’ve been able to invest £2m in this new active travel scheme, which will help reduce car use and encourage more people to walk or cycle to work.”
Infrastructure work for the strategic employment site at Brocastle completed in November 2021.
The work included the construction of new roads and provision of utilities to serve nine plateaux.
The first development on the 100 acre brownfield site was intended to be a 250,000 sq ft factory for Ineos Automotive for its Grenadier 4x4 vehicle.
The project was planning to create 500 jobs, before Ineos opted to locate production at a former Mercedes-Benz factory in France.
Despite the set back it is understood that there is considerable interest in the site, close to the M4 and rail's South Wales Mainline, including from a tech company and a manufacturing venture.
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