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The people of Ebbw Vale are frustrated about a lot of things.

Some are frustrated about owning the UK’s first cable car of its kind that only works Monday to Friday.

Others are angry about the modern town clock which often only works on one side.

The broken promise of the Circuit of Wales also features at the top of the list, along with ongoing reassurances of employment to fill the void left after the closure of the steelworks in 2002.

But perhaps their biggest gripe is the feeling they have been stereotyped and mocked ever since the EU referendum.

As the result came through in June 2016, Blaenau Gwent became the Welsh constituency with the highest percentage of people voting to leave the EU. Within the borough, 62% voted for Brexit compared to 52.5% across Wales. Ebbw Vale is its largest town.

At the time, many were quick to point out that Blaenau Gwent has received hundreds of millions of pounds in EU funding.

For a start it is home to The Works – a £350m development on the site of the steelworks funded in part by the EU redevelopment fund.

On the council website it is described as one of “the biggest and most complicated economic regeneration projects ever contemplated in Wales”. It will eventually boast six acres of business development and a 20-acre leisure and heritage park along with the £33.5m Coleg Gwent campus, £7.3m of which is EU funds.

Then there are transport links. When travelling to Ebbw Vale, chances are you will use the Heads of the Valleys road, dualled using £77.3m of EU funds, or by train, on a line re-opened in 2008 costing £22.7m, including £7.5m from the European Regional Development Fund.

It's funding like this that's led to the comparison of people in the Valleys voting to leave the EU to the turkeys voting for Christmas.

But in the eyes of those living in Wales’ most deprived areas, where there are generations of unemployed, the reality is not quite that simple.

This is what the people of Ebbw Vale had to say:

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In Bethcar Street in Ebbw Vale’s centre sits the former HSBC bank.

Like countless others around Wales, the branch has closed in recent years. Instead of sitting empty, however, it is now home to Cwmglo Jewellery and Fashion – a boutique with a small cafe tucked in the corner offering hot drinks and cakes to its customers.

Although they work side by side in the same community, husband and wife team Diane and Steven Roberts had split opinions when it came to the referendum.

While Diane voted leave, Steven’s gut reaction was to vote to stay.

Perched at a table closest to the gas fire in the former bank branch, he said: “At the time my reason to vote remain was that this is a deprived area.

“On the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation, Ebbw Vale and Blaenau Gwent have been top of the list since its inception.

“I voted to remain for the simple reason that I thought it was the only funding we were getting but in retrospect, when you sit down to think about it, it can’t get any worse.”

(Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne)

For Steven, things began to change when, unsatisfied by the progress being made in his hometown, he began to research exactly where EU funding was being spent. Now, more than two years after the vote, he says he would vote Leave given the chance.

He said: “I sort of sat down, did a lot of reading around the EU and what is happening. The more I look at the EU the more I think it’s become a bureaucratic monster.

“We have a new school, new sports centre, yes, but what jobs has it created? What wealth has it brought in? In my opinion that’s refurbishment, that’s not regeneration.

“If they had invested their money in some units here and put solar panels in, put heating in so prospective businesses had a cheap source of energy, that’s simple things.

“There’s a raft of other things they could have done but they seem to have just spent the money on fripperies. We have a dragon, a clock that doesn’t seem to tell the time and some silver balls which in the summer get so hot you burn yourself on.”

According to the IT manager turned business owner, however, the borough’s overwhelming desire to leave the EU runs deeper than that.

(Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne)

In a constituency where the unemployment level is currently 5.1% – compared to a British average of 4.1% – many feel abandoned by the country’s leaders. In 2005, unemployment rates in the borough were at 8.3%, while in 2010 they soared to 14.4%. In 2015, it stood at 9.2% and in 2016 StatsWales put unemployment rate at 8.7%.

In 2014, the borough topped the Multiple Deprivation Index for having proportionally the largest geographic area in the most deprived 10% in Wales. It also scores badly in education and community safety.

After a brief pause to greet two customers as they enter the empty shop, Steven continued: “People from London and the south-east have preconceptions that anyone from the Valleys is thick and they don’t have a clue what they’re talking about but that’s wrong.

“It’s more than turkeys voting for Christmas, I think there’s a lot of reasons and the main one is desperation. It’s been such a deprived area for so long that people are desperate for something to happen, something to improve the area.

“We have two, three, four generations unemployed, there have been whole families that have never worked.

“We have been underfunded, left, forgotten about and basically taken for granted by Labour, because everyone votes Labour so they don’t have to do anything. Things cannot get any worse so that’s thrown a big hand grenade in. Let’s leave and see what happens.”

(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne) (Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne) (Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne)

Across the road, Zoe Powell runs a haberdashery shop looking out onto the town’s best-known mascot.

Sat on what used to be a patch of derelict land, the £22,000 silver dragon was unveiled in 2014 thanks to European Regional Development Fund money provided through the Welsh Government.

As the wife of a Blaenau Gwent councillor, Zoe understands better than most the complications that come with such funds.

Wales currently receives around £680m of EU funds every year, according to the Welsh Government.

To allocate funds, Wales is split into two regions – West Wales and the Valleys, described as a less developed region, and East Wales, a more developed region.

For local authorities to access that funding they must first put a project together meeting the themes of the EU's South Wales strategy. This could include support for research and development, or improving infrastructure.

This will then go to WEFO, the Wales European Funding Office, before being taken to the monitoring committee before it is approved.

Leaning on the counter wearing her Pins & Things apron, Zoe said: “A couple of months before that dragon went up, they closed every toilet in Blaenau Gwent to save money.

“They said [the funding] had to be spent on a work of art. I asked: 'Can’t we have an artistic toilet?' But we couldn’t, it appeared.

“We were led to believe funding could only be used in certain ways. Years and years ago a glass canopy was put up across the road, another work of art, which can only be appreciated by the people who live above the street.

“There was nothing put aside to maintain these things so whenever something breaks down, like the mechanical lift, there is no money to fix it.

“There are supposed to be lights outside the dragon but there’s no money to put them right. It’s as if you’re given this money to go and play with no thought for practical use.”

(Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne) (Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne)

In 2017 a report was published assessing the success of the Ebbw Vale Town Centre Regeneration Programme.

The programme — funded by the European Convergence Programme as well as the Welsh Government, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, private sector investment and match funding — had four aims.

These were to improve at least 30 properties and reduce vacancy rates by 25% by 2015. It was to accommodate at least 30 new jobs by 2015, improve footfall, and provide effective public transport links to the town centre and pedestrian access between the town and The Works.

In total, around £9.9m was spent on seven projects, including the £2.3m cable car (which connects The Works and the town centre) and the first two phases of a £2m bus and taxi rank.

And the end of it all two out of the four aims were met, 29 rather than 30 properties were improved and eight jobs were created instead of 30.

For Phil Edwards, Ebbw Vale Business Forum chairman, the town centre scheme proves his point. He said: “All it did was cosmetic surgery – no jobs were created.

“You can’t call that progress. I wouldn’t say Ebbw had a lot of money spent on it. It had a lot of money wasted on it.”

(Image: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Cardiff University professor Kevin Morgan understands Mr Edwards' anger.

As a professor of governance and development, it is something he is familiar with when talking about the EU.

He said: "The role of communication in these projects is very very oblique. Local people find there is very little involvement in the process.

"When the council bids into these projects they have to be aligned under certain themes which are very broad and, to a lot of citizens, very obscure. They don't feel any sense of ownership over the things emerging in their area."

In December 2018, talk of the EU-funded cable car returned to the council chambers in the form of a service review.

(Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne) (Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne)

The findings were mixed. It was noted that the EU-funded cable car, operated by the council, requires an “onerous maintenance schedule”. Over a six-day period, 2,154 people used the cable car to travel between The Works and the train station and the town.

However, the report went on to note: “Whilst footfall data has been collated there is no evidence to support that the Ebbw Vale Cableway has provided economic benefits to the town centre to date.

“It is anticipated that benefits to local business are still to be realised.

“In general businesses feel that the mechanical link is an asset to the town centre and welcome any attempts to increase footfall, but they are dissatisfied with the number of occasions the mechanical link is out of service.

“Business owners feel that people arriving by train are being ‘stranded’ from the town centre when the mechanical link is out of service due to there being no clear alternative route to the town centre.”

For others, however, talk of the dragon and cable car distract from the bigger issues at hand.

Phil and Keith Furnishers has traded in Ebbw Vale for the past 25 years.

Co-owner Phil Davies voted to stay in the EU, and believes the programmes and schemes that can’t be seen have been forgotten and replaced by arguments like the infamous Brexit bus.

(Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne) (Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne)

Perhaps an example of this is the “Inspire 2 Achieve” and the “Inspire 2 Work” EU programmes which, according to website myeu.co.uk, spent more than £25m in Blaenau Gwent providing tailor-made support for 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training.

Huddled by a small gas fire on a snowy day, Phil said: “I didn’t like the campaign on the Brexit side with people wanting to leave. I felt at the time it was a lot of lies.

“I was quite happy with the money we received compared to the contribution we made. I can’t see any reason why we would leave from there.

“We were doing okay with the money from the Heads of the Valleys: the dragon, the clock. I know it was kind of superficial but if we didn’t have them somewhere like Newport would so it might as well be Ebbw Vale.

“We were talking about millions with the roads, not just a couple of thousand pounds.”

(Image: Getty Images) (Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne)

Exactly where those millions have been spent is a constant question raised during an afternoon spent in Ebbw Vale.

As part of a Welsh Government consultation into preparations for replacing EU funding, Blaenau Gwent council conceded that new funds must be better communicated to the community.

The council said: “The vote to leave the EU in Blaenau Gwent, as in other parts of the UK with a similar socio-economic profile, was arguably in part a reflection of a perception some communities had about the EU and EU funding.”

Jeanne Fry-Thomas is the director of estate agents Bidmead Cook. The company has 11 branches. Sitting in her Ebbw Vale branch on a Tuesday afternoon, she is quick to acknowledge the sheer scale of the challenge that lies ahead replacing the industry that has been lost in the area over the years.

Jeanne, who voted to leave the EU, said: “You look around and think: how has it ended like this? And I think a lot of that is down to the fact there is no industry and employment here. How you change that I don’t know. We have had a lot of industry that has gone and nothing has come to replace it.”

(Image: Walesonline/Rob Browne)

In 2002, the last workers at Ebbw Vale steelworks gathered to see the last coil come off the line – ending more than two centuries of iron and steelmaking in the town.

In total, 850 people lost their jobs in the works following the collapse of the international steel market in the 1990s. Out of those, 300 accepted transfers to other Corus plants elsewhere in the UK and in the Netherlands.

Fifteen years after the steelworks' closure, Ebbw Vale was also dealt another blow. In June 2017 it was announced the £425m Circuit of Wales wouldn't be happening, with the Welsh Government refusing public sector guarantees, saying the developer’s estimate of creating 6,000 jobs had been “significantly overstated” and that as few as around 100 operational jobs would be created.

(Image: EBBW VALE WORKS MUSEUM) (Image: Crunch Communications)

For hopeful families in an area where unemployment has spanned generations it was the last straw.

Jeanne said: “If you haven’t had a job for a very long time and are told all this EU money is coming in and have all these things dangled in front of you like the debacle with the race track – you think we’ve had this for 40 years, it’s not worked, so let’s try something else. If you’ve not had a job you grasp at straws.

“You can’t make a blanket comment that EU money has been badly spent or it’s been well spent. The Works site has been great but I think there are probably hundreds of towns in Wales where their town centres look like this – quiet, empty units and not many people shopping in the town centre.”

Alongside questions over investment, no-one denies talk over immigration played a large part in the minds of some people living in Blaenau Gwent.

While Zoe, of Pins & Things, argues it comes from “an older minority”, 19-year-old Alex Craven suggests that's not right.

(Image: South Wales Echo) (Image: South Wales Echo) (Image: South Wales Echo)

Alex is currently studying an access to higher education course at the EU-funded Coleg Gwent as well as working a part-time job. Although he was too young to vote in the referendum, he says he would have voted to leave.

Asked for his thoughts on the top-of-the-range building he studies in, he said: “We need money for the NHS and education, not for projects and lifts.

“It should be used for everyone, not just the selective few. It’s the bigger picture, I thought about [the college] once or twice but I wanted to think not just about the younger generation or the older generation, but everyone in between.”

Coming from family who all voted for Brexit, Alex admits to being worried about immigration.

He said: “Most people I have spoken to have spoken about immigration in Ebbw Vale and south-east Wales. I know there’s immigration for just for the EU and that’s why unemployment figures are high.”

This is what the people of Ebbw Vale told Nick Clegg when he visited the town:

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Forklift operator trainer Simon Bills also has concerns about immigration.

Speaking from his house metres away for The Works, he believes "unskilled workers" have not been represented in what has been written and broadcast about the town since the referendum.

He said: "The EU has benefited some people around here but certainly not people like myself.

"You can't carry knocking buildings down and rebuilding them to create jobs, it's not sustainable."

A former forklift operator, Simon claims he has seen factory workers let go and replaced by workers from eastern Europe.

He says finding a job straight from school is impossible in today's climate, compared to his experience years ago.

He said: "I am 39 years old and when I left school there were plenty of jobs. I was born to a single mother with three children so we weren't privileged and didn't get those opportunities. We ended up getting those unskilled jobs.

"Now they're not there. I have nothing against immigrants but when people lose their livelihood and lose so much it's time to take a stand."

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit as March 29 approaches, Dai Davies, former MP and current executive member for regeneration and economic development at Blaenau Gwent council, believes the best is yet to come for Ebbw Vale.

He says he is tired of receiving money from WEFO but being told where it must go.

He said: “So many times we’ve had to go to the general public and not asked what they would like, but had to say this is what they’re having.

“Because money is ring-fenced we are told it can’t be used to help small companies develop.

“We don’t need handouts and I don’t think EU funding was a hand-up. It’s like going cap in hand asking for some more. We nearly celebrated the fact that we qualified for Objective One (an area of most need) – it’s almost embarrassing.

“The money from WEFO was good and helped people, but the WEFO office itself has been a difficult animal to work with.”

Despite his views, however, the independent councillor doesn’t deny people have become confused over what EU money has provided. He said: “I saw one interview at the old steelworks site with one person asking ‘what has the EU done for us?’ with a blue plaque behind him.

“We have had new buildings and a lot of people don’t realise that money was EU – but has that provided new opportunity and employment? People don’t realise the Heads of the Valleys, which is an artery for business, is from European funding as well, but would we have been able to do that anyway?”

(Image: South Wales Echo)

On January 19, news of a £20m cyber-security centre in Blaenau Gwent hit the headlines.

A collaboration between the Welsh Government and French tech giant Thales, who have each committed £10m, the National Digital Exploitation Centre (NDEC) will be the first research and development facility of its kind in Wales.

Construction work is scheduled to start in the spring and is expected to be operational by 2021.

The initial project is expected to create 11 jobs – although it has been argued it could provide the skills and the knowledge to secure UK projects and funding.

According to Mr Davies, as the first project as part of the Welsh Government’s Tech Valley initiative it is a step in the right direction.

He said: “EU funding is drying up now in preparation for Brexit. Now most projects like Tech Valley are run directly from the Government which is accountable, which can be traced back from each decision.

“People are listening to people in the Valleys who have fantastic ideas and can feed them to a wider community.”

He added: “Blaenau Gwent built the industrial revolution and had a huge part to play not just in south-east Wales but in Great Britain. We built the world and there is the opportunity to do that again, but it’s not due to the EU. I’m confident that things are starting to change.”

Whether that will happen only time will tell.