The leader of the Welsh Conservatives is calling for the re-establishment of the Welsh Development Agency with a Mid Wales hub.

Senedd leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies wants to re-establish the WDA, which was disbanded in 2006, and base its main office in North Wales as part of an agenda to ‘level-up’ the country and make development less Cardiff-centric.

As part of the plan, Mr Davies, wants to see a hub set up in Mid Wales.

The WDA opened an office in Aberystwyth in the 1990s, in the newly built Lanfa building, which now houses the town’s magistrates court and justice centre.

Mr Davies said: “Welsh Conservatives will level up all four corners of Wales and we can confirm we’d have a business hub in Mid Wales, bringing back the best of the WDA.

“We would also create a comeback package for seaside towns to level up with a Tourism Towns Fund, enabling communities to improve the local economy by attracting new visitors with free wifi or improved transport links.”

Mr Davies also confirmed that Welsh Conservatives would plan on moving the recently established Welsh Revenue Authority – the Welsh Government’s version of the Treasury – to North Wales. 

The moves would create at least 200 jobs in the region, he said, with the organisations tasked with creating “tens of thousands of jobs for people across the country, as we look to bounce back from the pandemic and build a better Wales”.

Commenting on the announcement, Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies said it would give Mid and North Wales a “seat at the top table of government”.

Davies said: “For too long communities have been left behind and people could be forgiven for thinking that they’re often an afterthought.

“For the past two decades, Labour ministers in Cardiff Bay have been too focused on projects such as Cardiff Airport. That ends after May’s Senedd election.

“Welsh Conservatives will level up our country and ensure the voice of North Wales is not only heard, but is at the heart of everything we do, starting with the day-to-day administration of the Welsh Government. 

“Welsh Conservatives will build a better Wales with the North to the fore, with more jobs, better hospitals and first-class schools.” 

Welsh Conservative Shadow North Wales and finance minister, Mark Isherwood said: “By bringing back the best of the Welsh Development Agency (WDA), abolished by Labour in 2006, and establishing both this and the Welsh Treasury in North Wales, we will put local priorities and local people from across our area at the heart of the Welsh Government, as well as creating good quality, well-paid jobs for local people.”