Llanelly's restoration closer after £2m boost
THE dream of a revitalised Llanelly House is finally being realised — and supporters hope it will spark life back into the town centre by attracting tens of thousands of visitors.
Confirmation came last week that the grade one-listed landmark building had received the final £2 million injection needed to elevate it to its original glory.
Deputy Minister for Regeneration, Leighton Andrews, announced the grant from the Convergence European Regional Development Fund, which means work on the £6 million scheme can start in spring 2010.
The project, which will create 10 new jobs, is expected to be completed by 2012.
Project director William Wilkins, who has been working on it for the past nine years, hailed the news.
He said: "At last we can start — that is the key. It is a huge turning point." Earlier this year the project received a £3.4 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund — and now all the necessary cash is in place.
For more on this story read this week's Llanelli Star.







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by Richard, gwendraeth
Saturday, November 07 2009, 7:36PM
“Eric, I agree with you on one point. Of course what you print is more important than how you print. However, your like it or love it (sic) attitude (i assume you meant lump) is all too prevelant in todays society and its not a good attitude to have. Are you any different in attitude to a no talent 'celebrity' with their 'if you dont like me dont watch me' way of thinking. You seem to wear your illiteracy like a badge of honour, something to be proud of, when as anyone with any intelligence knows, it is certainly not anything to be proud of at all. Im not a labour supporter by any means and never will be, however, the labour party fought hard to improve the literacy of the working classes. You do the memory of those members a disservice. In the words of my Grandma, Its not big and its not clever.”
by ERIC, Llanelli
Wednesday, November 04 2009, 4:43PM
“Richard , you can take it as you want, This is how i print most letters. Like or Love it. thats what i say. its not the way you print , but what you print that counts.,”
by Bob, Kidwelly
Tuesday, November 03 2009, 4:15PM
“Jane makes a very good point and there is no one more enthusiastic than I am over saving and restoring our heritage.
However in the same paper there is a story of a young family having to evacuate their home because of raw sewage flooding into it due to the appalling, crumbling sewers we have here in Llanelli. When you read that it makes you stop and think if there isn¿t a better use for the £2 million. We all know Councillors like having their photos taken next to re vamped buildings, but they must realise that we may want Stately homes, cinemas theatres etc but we need sewers.
If these councillors are serious about restoring the house they must realise they cannot do it in isolation. The rest of the town is fast approaching dereliction and this must be remedied. The council have encourage people back into the town and they are not going to do that by forbidding people parking on two large derelict areas of land near Upper Park Street.
These used to be full of cars bringing people into the town, now the council have surrounded them with boulders and fences to stop them. So where have they gone? To Trostre and once again the town resembles an Old West Ghost town.
People make a town, buildings only decorate it.”
by richard, gwendraeth
Monday, November 02 2009, 8:33PM
“Eric, It concerns me that you seem to equate literacy with 'grammer schools'. what a dreadful indictment of the education of this country. shame on you Mr Smith”
by Jane, Swansea
Monday, November 02 2009, 5:54PM
“I'm not the slightest interested in the petty squabbles about local government. Having seen the interior of this beautiful building on the BBC programme Restoration, I am thrilled that it is going to be not only saved, but also restored. South Wales has precious few grand houses of this sort. We 'do' castles in their dozens but not this type of house. Excellent news!”
by anon, anon
Monday, November 02 2009, 3:57PM
“Eric, Bob... step away from your hand bags ladies”
by Bob, Kidwelly
Monday, November 02 2009, 3:30PM
“Dear Eric,
Well yes that's fairly obvious.”
by ERIC, Llanelli
Monday, November 02 2009, 2:33PM
“BoB Kidwelly, You have got a Hump with the County as aTaxi Driver, And should not do the same with the Town. They are unpaid councillors when they attend Local mettings in there Area, They only get paid while out side there Area, Ps. you Went to Grammer school then .? Normal school i went To”
by richard, gwendraeth
Monday, November 02 2009, 10:02AM
“' Food aid to be dished out to hard up families in Llanelli'
Well aint that just the headline to take the bubbles out of you champagne. Ironic really that it takes a £2,000,000 grant to restore a house to its 18th century grandeur and yet it takes nothing to restore the population of the town to 18th century poverty.
'Another glass Meryl?'
'Oooh dont mind if i do'”
by Bob, Kidwelly
Sunday, November 01 2009, 12:21PM
“If Mr Smith was a councillor one can only hope that he managed to express himself a lot better than he has done here. Presumably he is unaware of the convention of using both upper and lower case letters in a written communication!
Mr Smith, if you were getting a ¿lot of stick¿ it¿s probably from people burdened with ever increasing bills to fund councillor¿s life styles (Meryl Gravell quaffing champagne) watching their hard earned cash being squandered on everyone but them.
Restoring Llanelli house will not attract one additional visitor to town as long as the council wages war on the motorist to keep them out and the rest of Llanelli looks like a left over set from a Mad Max movie.”