<p>A New Prison at Baglan</p>

Part of 2. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:31 pm on 4 July 2017.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 1:31, 4 July 2017

Well, the prison itself will create 500 local jobs and generate £11 million in revenue for the local economy. Could I reassure my colleague that, as somebody who has a prison in his constituency, and who was the ward councillor when the prison was being built in my ward at the time, there were concerns at the time, no question about it, but that those concerns were never realised? We didn’t lose investment. In fact, a brand-new housing estate is being built almost up to the prison perimeter at the moment, and those houses are being sold. So, whereas people will inevitably have concerns about something new in the area, what we know not just from Bridgend, but from elsewhere in Wales, is that prisons do generate jobs and, ultimately, of course, they don’t have a negative effect on the local economy or town.