Gwynedd Council has launched a £3.8m scheme to help young people in north west Wales develop skills and pursue enterprising ideas. The scheme, Llwyddo’n Llleol or “Succeeding Locally”, will provide bursaries of up to £1,000 to 11 to 19-year-olds across Anglesey, Denbighshire, Conwy and Gwynedd. It is backed by £2.6m from the European Social Fund through the Assembly Government.

The Royal Mint is to build two new production facilities at its site in Llantrisant. The £16.5m project will double the organisation’s nickel-plating capacity. The first phase is due to be completed by September. In the year to 31 March 2009, the Royal Mint posted profit before exceptional items of £8.2m and a sales increase of £159m, up 17 per cent on the previous year.

Construction companies Jim Davies Civil Engineering and The Cuddy Group have been awarded contracts to build park-and-ride sites at Tredegar House and Llanwern for the 2010 Ryder Cup. The two sites will provide parking for up to 16,000 vehicles. All visitors travelling by car to the Ryder Cup will have to use the park-and-ride facilities to access the Celtic Manor Resort.

Gwynedd Council, in partnership with regeneration group Blaenau Ymlaen and the Assembly Government, has commissioned Miller Research to undertake a four-month detailed design process looking into ways of improving Blaenau Ffestiniog’s town centre. The aim of the £4.5m regeneration project, funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Welsh Assembly Government and Gwynedd Council, is to create a vibrant shopping street in the town. It’s hoped that a formal planning application for the scheme can be submitted in May.

Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones has announced a £19m funding boost for a busy route through West Wales. The EU Convergence funding will help pay for improvement of a 2.5km section of the A40 from Penblewin to Slebech Park, including a bypass for the Pembrokeshire village of Robeston Wathen. This latest funding forms part of a £37m investment already committed by the Welsh Assembly Government to improve journey times and road safety along the route.

Four social housing projects in Wales are set to benefit from a share of a £17m funding pot to test low-carbon building technology. The Retrofit for the Future programme, run by the Technology Strategy Board, has awarded 87 UK organisations proof-of-concept development contracts to carry out retrofits on current social houses. Businesses in Wales set to benefit are Ecostruct, Charter Housing Association, RCT Homes, and a partnership between Melin Homes and Willdig Lammie. Each project will receive around £142,000 to demonstrate cuts in carbon emissions and exemplar energy efficient measures in UK social housing.

The Assembly Government’s £214m Communities First programme did not demonstrate value for money and lacked clear leadership, the National Assembly’s public accounts committee has said. Committee members said the Assembly Government “was, in many cases, unable to demonstrate a direct link between Communities First and any improvement of standards in areas which had received investment”. This is the fourth time the policy, which aims to involve local people in improving the poorest parts of Wales, has been criticised.

Environment minister Jane Davidson this week laid the Waste Measure, which would help the Assembly Government to achieve the ambitions set out in the Towards Zero Waste strategy document, before the National Assembly for its consideration. The measure will enable the Assembly Government to ban specific waste from landfill, set statutory targets for local authority recycling, introduce fees for construction and demolition waste and introduce a mandatory charge for carrier bags.