STENA LINE has welcomed the announcement from the UK Government that North Wales will be designated as the first UK AI Growth Zone. The news comes shortly after Stena revealed its plans for a new technology park at Prosperity Parc on Anglesey in September.
Island of Anglesey County Council gave its approval to Stena’s plans for the creation of a new, low carbon, 220-acre technology park at Prosperity Parc, which will now sit at the heart of the new North Wales AI Growth Zone.
Stena Line has also given a warm welcome to the announcement that Rolls Royce will deliver new small modular reactors (SMRs) at Wylfa, which further supports Stena’s plans for the technology park, and will help ensure that there will be clean energy to power the technologies of the future on the site.
Since securing planning permission for the technology park, Stena Line have been working with partners to deliver the billions of investment required to make the park a reality. At its peak, the proposals for Prosperity Parc are forecast to generate up to £578m of growth in the local economy each year – the equivalent of a third of Anglesey’s current economy – and create around 1,200 jobs. The construction phase would see a further 890 jobs created on top of supply chain opportunities.
Stena has also committed to proposals targeting investment in local training, education, and skills development – ensuring that communities across Anglesey benefit from increased opportunities close to home.
Ian Hampton, Executive Director at Stena Line, said: “Since we bought the old Anglesey Aluminum Site four years ago, our ambitions for the site were that it had to be transformational, delivering the technologies of the future while creating jobs, opportunities and promoting skills.
“Four years later, we invested to get the site ready for development, we secured planning permission for the technology parc and I am delighted that we have now been designated by Government as an AI Growth Zone.
“The announcement of Wylfa as the site for Rolls Royce’s new SMRs means that we will also have clean energy to power our ambitions for the technology parc.
“We are now getting ready for the next phase of delivery. Since securing planning, we have been working with partners to bring forward the technology park to begin delivering the benefits to the people of Anglesey as soon as possible.
“I hope we will be able to make further announcements shortly as we move forward with our plans to help deliver a thriving and prosperous future for Ynys Mon.”
