AN EXCITING entrepreneurial project in Llwyngwril has collapsed – despite a Big Lottery Fund grant worth £250,000.

Menter Gwril, a scheme established to increase employment opportunities in Meirionnydd, was due to set up in the village’s old school building.

After years of hard work, local residents managed to successfully attain the massive grant which was going to be used to create an event space along with multipurpose rooms where hairdressers, physical therapists, artists and other business interests could have set up new enterprises.

However, “disillusioned” directors of Menter Gwril announced last week that the project was no longer going ahead and that they were not going to claim the quarter of a million pound grant.

A spokesperson for the directors said: “After three years of commitment and hard work, the directors of Menter Gwril have regretfully decided not to proceed with the community enterprise project and have decided to close it down.

“There are several reasons for this decision.

“The first is that Gwynedd County Council have imposed unrealistic restrictions concerning the lease of the old school building.

“The second is that although we have made every effort to include the community in every stage of the project, we have been sadly disappointed with the apparent lack of commitment from the community.

“Despite advertising, including on social media, we have had a negligible response from potential tenants and service providers wishing to use the premises.

“In a rural area of high unemployment, we have become disillusioned by the lack of interest in the enterprise/job opportunities this would have offered.”

There are also local concerns that the Menter Gwril project has “divided” the community and threatened over community resources.

“Despite our best efforts to offer reassurance to the community that Menter Gwril would not in any way compromise the Ganolfan, there is still, apparently, resistance to the project, which appears to be causing some divisions within the community,” the spokesperson continued.

“Therefore all future meetings are cancelled.

“We thank all the volunteers for their help and support up to this point, we know a lot of people have put in a lot of effort getting the scheme to this stage.”

When asked what would happen to the grant, a Big Lottery Fund spokesman said: “We were sad to hear that this project cannot continue after they contacted us to say they no longer wanted to accept our grant offer.

“No funding has been received by the project. Money originally awarded to them will be redistributed to other good causes.”