A WAVE of grants and new jobs have arrived in the Llyn Peninsula. Nearly £500,000 of grants were announced earlier this week for coastal communities around Dwyfor resulting in at least eight new jobs.

Introduced in 2012 by the Welsh and UK Governments, the Coastal Communities Fund supports economic development projects in coastal areas. The Big Lottery Fund looks after the grant and is “delighted” to announce the most recent awards which will see the creation of new jobs and support to grow smaller businesses around the Welsh coastline.

The money will go towards a whole host of novel innovations, including green energy projects and a new refrigerated van for milk rounds.

In Dwyfor, dairy business Llaethdy Llyn, in Pwllheli, is expanding its business supplying locally produced and branded milk and milk products to the local market in north west Wales.

The firm has been given £122,361 for the salaries of a dairy foreman and a processing assistant/delivery assistant as well as the purchase of a delivery vehicle, an additional pasteuriser and dairy processing equipment.

Following the dairy theme, the Snowdonia Ice Cream Company, also based in Pwllheli, received £94,000 to increase production capacity, support product development and increase brand awareness to expand the customer base.

The five-figure sum will fund the salaries and training of two new employees and the design and printing of marketing materials and travel and subsistence.

The rest of the money will go towards the purchase costs of a bespoke exhibition unit, potting machine and batch and blast freezers.

Finally, a huge £265,000 will go Nova Innovation Ltd who are currently working on two tidal energy projects, one at Bardsey Island and the other at Morlais, Anglesey.

Four jobs will be created and the rest of the money will help initiate the process of embedding offshore turbines that will use tidal flow to produce electricity, with the long-term goal of full grid connectivity.

Sian Callaghan, chair of the Coastal Commmunities funding decisions committee said: “We were impressed with the range of submissions which showed just how innovative coastal businesses and communities in Wales can be. We were delighted to see how many people would be able to secure new jobs as a result of these grants and in the background these projects will support even more jobs as they improve the economy of the areas they are based in.”

Coastal Communities has funded previous ventures on Llyn such as the award-winning Plas Heli sailing centre in Pwllheli.

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