Data centre plan for key site that has lain empty for years

A NEW major development proposal has been put forward for the former Ferodo site near Caernarfon after previous plans for a £60m holiday park were rejected.

- By OWEN HUGHES

How the data centre might look on the former Ferodo site near Caernarfon. Inset: the former factory site

The 27-acre Ferodo/Friction Dynamics car parts factory site once employed more than 1,500 workers.

In the early 2000s, the site next to the Menai Strait became famous for another reason as workers were embroiled in one of the longest-running industrial disputes in Wales before the factory closed in 2008.

It has been empty ever since, and previous failed proposals to develop the site have included a North Wales prison and a housing development. The last project from businessman Peter O'Dowd was for a holiday park on the site and the derelict mansion estates of Plas Brereton and Plas Ty Coch.