Ebbw Vale: Plan for 600-job glass bottle factory unveiled

Plans to build a glass bottle manufacturing plant which would create 600 jobs have been unveiled.

Ciner Glass wants to open the factory in Ebbw Vale by 2023, with full production starting the following year.

If the factory is built, there could be up to 100 extra lorry journeys in the area each day.

A scoping report, which is usually submitted before a formal planning application, has been presented to Blaenau Gwent Council.

The plant would also have a warehouse facility on the Rassau Industrial Estate, as well as two furnaces, two buildings to process recycled glass and a 75m (246ft) chimney, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The report, which examines potential environmental impacts, said the development would be a "typical feature" of the industrial character of the area, but the "tall structures" would have an impact on views, with the Brecon Beacons 500m (0.3miles) to the north.

It also said an extra 100 HGV journeys could be needed, using the A465 Heads of the Valleys road to take materials in and out of the site.

Dai Davies, from Blaenau Gwent council, said the local authority was working with the Welsh Government and a private company on the scheme "to establish an advanced manufacturing facility".

"A planning application is anticipated later this year subject to land and utilities being secured and the scheme will then be subject to extensive public consultation," he said.