WAG’s regeneration talk branded hypocritical

Senior sources within the Welsh Assembly Government hit back at criticism of the Convergence Fund programme for West Wales and the Valleys for the period 2007-2013, aimed at increasing prosperity in the nation’s poorest communities. Organisations in the private and voluntary sectors have alleged they are being squeezed out of the programme’s delivery, with the bulk of projects announced so far being run by the Assembly Government itself and other public sector bodies. A WAG spokesman said 'What matters is not so much who manages the projects as whether the money gets through to the communities it is intended to help'.