Ffos Las Racecourse
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Ffos Las Racecourse
MH Sat 10 Jan 2009 - 19:59
As nobody has written anything about sport, I thought I'd say something about the Ffos Las racecourse due to open this summer, since it was mentioned in today's Western Mail:
Ffos Las’s first horse race expected to sell out
I won't pretend to know much about horse racing, and would welcome comments from anyone who does, but this seems to me to be a very good development. It is exactly the sort of world class sporting facility that Wales should be looking to develop.
It has been a long time coming. I can find articles on the BBC going back to 2003 that mention it, saying that the orginal intention was to locate it at Pembrey. A few weeks later, they expected the course would be ready by 2005, at a cost of £10m.
BBC, 9 June 2003
BBC, 16 July 2003
The reality appears to have been somewhat more difficult, and the whole project would probably have come to nought were it not for the determination of Dai Walters.
Although getting planning permission to redevelop an old opencast mining site would not have been difficult, getting public money was much harder. According to The Times, he has poured some £25m of his own money into it, and much of the construction work has been done "at cost" by his own civil engineering companies. I'm sure the pill will be sweetened somewhat by getting planning permission for 250 homes on part of the site.
Times, 13 June 2008
BBC, 27 Dec 2008
But everything looks to have ended well. The course itself looks finished, and work on the buildings is well underway. The talk is of it bringing in some £600m a year to the local economy, and in particular attracting trainers and punters from Ireland.
To quote Dai Walters, "I wanted to do something for Wales." He certainly has.
Ffos Las’s first horse race expected to sell out
I won't pretend to know much about horse racing, and would welcome comments from anyone who does, but this seems to me to be a very good development. It is exactly the sort of world class sporting facility that Wales should be looking to develop.
It has been a long time coming. I can find articles on the BBC going back to 2003 that mention it, saying that the orginal intention was to locate it at Pembrey. A few weeks later, they expected the course would be ready by 2005, at a cost of £10m.
BBC, 9 June 2003
BBC, 16 July 2003
The reality appears to have been somewhat more difficult, and the whole project would probably have come to nought were it not for the determination of Dai Walters.
Although getting planning permission to redevelop an old opencast mining site would not have been difficult, getting public money was much harder. According to The Times, he has poured some £25m of his own money into it, and much of the construction work has been done "at cost" by his own civil engineering companies. I'm sure the pill will be sweetened somewhat by getting planning permission for 250 homes on part of the site.
Times, 13 June 2008
BBC, 27 Dec 2008
But everything looks to have ended well. The course itself looks finished, and work on the buildings is well underway. The talk is of it bringing in some £600m a year to the local economy, and in particular attracting trainers and punters from Ireland.
To quote Dai Walters, "I wanted to do something for Wales." He certainly has.
MH- Posts : 91
Join date : 2008-10-04
Re: Ffos Las Racecourse
kimerajamm Wed 11 Aug 2010 - 14:34
The meaning of FFos Las race course Wales?
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kimerajamm- Posts : 6
Join date : 2010-08-11
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