NEWS UPDATE – WELSH LABOUR DEMAND ANSWERS OVER LLANELLI WELLNESS VILLAGE!

Welsh Labour Demand Answers Over Llanelli Wellness Village!

Welsh Labour Councillors are demanding answers over the £200m Wellness Village in Llanelli, claiming that serious questions need to be answered before further work can begin.

This week the Leader of the Opposition, Cllr Rob James, has tabled seven questions to the Leader of the Council in an effort to gain answers on the process of choosing a private sector partner, the identity of the partners and the finance involved in the project.

Carmarthenshire Council have stated that the project will be financed by a £40m contribution from the UK Government and the Welsh Government, £30m coming from Carmarthenshire Council and a projected £125m being generated by the private sector, whilst announcing that Sterling Health Limited have been chosen as their private sector partner.

Cllr Rob James stated:

“It is absolutely incredible that work has already begun on this project when there are serious questions that are yet to be answered by this Council.

“We would like to know why Carmarthenshire Council did not renew their exclusivity agreement with Kent Neurosciences Limited to develop the project in 2017 and instead sign an agreement with Sterling Health, when it appears that the companies share the same Directors. We need more information on how companies such as Pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, will be operating within our health service and whether the project is financially deliverable; as we have seen no evidence to suggest that the private sector will be contributing the £125m. This project is said to be the largest in the Swansea Bay City Deal, with £70m of taxpayers money at risk should it all go wrong; and we are determined to get the answers the public are calling for.

“The announcement of Sterling Health as the private sector partner does not reassure me that this project will be a success, especially considering the company’s Directors previous experience running a private hospital in Kent. We have to ask whether Plaid Cymru are attempting to privatise the NHS through the back door.

“We have also heard from the Leader of this Council bemoaning the level of funding our National Health Service is receiving in Wales, yet it appears that Swansea University and Hywel Dda Health Board are not financially contributing to this scheme and it will be the tax payers of Carmarthenshire that will carry the can if this project is a failure.

“I sincerely hope that the Plaid Cymru Leader comes clean and tells the public what is really going on.”