Brocastle Business Park, a 116-acre site near the A48 and M4, was envisioned as a strategic hub capable of supporting up to 3,000 jobs. Since 2020, the Welsh Government has spent over £12 million on infrastructure, including a £10 million contract awarded to civil engineers Walters to build roads, drainage, and utilities. A further £2 million was invested in 2022 to create an Active Travel route linking the site to Waterton Roundabout, featuring 2km of cycleway, crossings, lighting, and upgraded signals.
Despite these investments, the site remains vacant, with no businesses or jobs currently operating there.
The business park was first scoped out in 2015, when the Welsh Government submitted a pre-application for a new employment site at Brocastle. The plan included up to 770,000 sq ft of industrial and office space, with potential for a rail freight facility due to proximity to the Ford engine plant sidings. The site was described as “one of the most important and prestigious greenfield inward investment sites…within the M4 corridor.”
In 2021, Economy Minister Vaughan Gething announced the completion of infrastructure works, calling Brocastle “investment ready” and highlighting interest from developers and owner-occupiers. Marketing agents JLL were appointed to attract tenants, but no occupiers have committed to date.
One of the most high-profile prospects was INEOS Automotive, which announced plans in 2019 to build a 250,000 sq ft factory at Brocastle to produce its new 4×4 Grenadier vehicle. The project was expected to create up to 500 jobs, but INEOS later abandoned the plan in favour of an existing Mercedes-Benz facility in France.
(Image: Welsh Government)
Figures revealed by Andrew RT Davies MS, Senedd Member for South Wales Central, show that £180,000 has been spent over the past three years on maintaining the site, including:
- £149,677 in facility management across 2022–2025
- £37,186 on habitat and ecology obligations since July 2022
Andrew RT Davies MS said:
“What people don’t want to see is so much money spent on the development of an asset like Brocastle, only for it to lie empty, gathering dust and costing money every single year.”
He added that while taxpayers support investment to grow the economy, they now expect to see a return on the site’s substantial public funding.
