Llanelli has been named as one of five places across Wales to share close to £1.5 million of National Lottery money to support its future cultural development.
Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s ground-breaking Great Place scheme will be used to explore how Llanelli’s unique heritage can help create a successful future, this will include tackling wider issues such as poverty, employment, health and education.
The £200,500 project in Llanelli will be led by Carmarthenshire County Council.
The 23-month project will engage with young people and more than 20 different organisations to create a place branding story book – a pictorial representation of cultural identity.
The journey will be captured on Stordy Digidol – an online hub for collecting and sharing Llanelli’s community heritage – which will provide a permanent and widely accessible resource.
Executive board member for regeneration, Cllr Emlyn Dole, said: “It’s fantastic news to see that Llanelli has been chosen as one of five places in Wales to receive this significant amount of money to support cultural development. It’s a great opportunity to document Llanelli’s important heritage and to help create a successful future for generations to come.”
Welsh Government Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport, Lord Elis-Thomas, added:
“Across Wales, in our towns and rural areas, there are numerous buildings and places of cultural significance. The importance of place is rightly recognised by the Welsh Government as crucial to our future wellbeing and I welcome this investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund in supporting communities in the development and promotion of their cultural assets.
“We live in a time when developing effective and practical partnerships is crucial for the long term sustainability of many of our areas. This programme underlines the importance of that vision and sees Wales and its many varied communities as truly Great Places.”
The Great Place Scheme will be implemented across the UK but the Heritage Lottery Fund has designed a tailored programme in Wales that responds to the specific needs of the country, benefitting towns and rural areas alike.
