London investment company Aventa Capital Partners Dir Michael Carrick is "trying to explain" why his company wants to build an int'l motor racing circuit in "one of the poorest parts" of the U.K., according to John Murray Brown of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Carrick’s plan envisages a 5.1km circuit where, for 16 weekends a year, some of the world’s fastest cars and motorcycles will "provide a spectacle for thousands of petrol-head race fans." Carrick is the main architect of a £325M ($495M) "greenfield scheme to build a track, motor technology park and retail and property developments" near Ebbw Vale, 50 miles north of Cardiff in the Welsh valleys. Aventa claims that the project "will transform the economy of Blaenau Gwent borough, creating 6,000 jobs in an area blighted by unemployment" since coal mines closed in the '80s. The plan has been "unanimously approved by the local council, but the promoters have yet to finalise" a £30M ($46M) grant they are "seeking from the Welsh government." Aventa invests in U.K. regeneration projects, and "financing a race circuit far from any city with little existing infrastructure is not its normal sort of venture." The plans also "attracted the attentions of rival racetracks worried it could hurt their businesses." Silverstone was "concerned enough to write" to PM David Cameron to "complain about the 'unfair' state aid that the project was seeking." Carrick: "We've heard the criticism from Silverstone. They actually made a state aid application, they didn't get it because of where they are in the country. We hope in 10 years' time this region won't be a tier one area [making it eligible for special EU funding] but at the moment it's one of the most deprived parts of the U.K." Aventa is "aiming for construction to be complete" by Aug. '17. Carrick said that the circuit and the ancillary activities would be worth £50M ($76.1M) a year to the Welsh economy (FT, 4/27).
