£50m border facility plans put on hold

THE Welsh Government will not push on with final commissioning and staffing at the £50m Holyhead border post being built to deal with Brexit checks.

- OWEN HUGHES

It comes after we reported earlier this week how the £50m facility under construction could end up a giant “white elephant”.

The facility was set to deal post-Brexit sanitary and phytosanitary checks on fresh produce from the EU.

Despite leaving the European Union in 2020 the last Conservative UK Government delayed implementing the checks over concerns it would lead to price rises for businesses and consumers.

But plans to implement the checks in the future continued with border posts under construction across the UK. In Wales the posts would be funded by the UK Government but operated by the Welsh Government, as it is responsible for biosecurity, food safety and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls in Wales.

Kier Group was handed a £41m build contract for Holyhead last summer and work got under way on the development at Parc Cybi. Work is due to be completed by the autumn.