• New Cars
    • First Impressions
    • Road Tests
  • Classics
    • Classic Profiles
    • Classic Driving Impressions
    • Classics Information
    • Events and Days Out
  • Motoring For Fun
  • News & Views
  • Bookshelf
  • Technical
    • Grumpy Old Mechanic
    • Kim’s Tips
  • Features
    • Visits
    • Track Days
  • Contributors
    • About our contributors
    • Kim Henson
    • Chris Adamson
    • Kieron Fennelly
    • Ant Henson
    • Rachel Henson
    • David Miles
    • Gerald Morgan
    • Dave Moss
    • Dave Randle
    • Robin Roberts
    • Tom Scanlan
    • Glen Smale
    • Jeremy Walton
    • Keith Ward
    • John Price Williams
  • More…
    • About Wheels Alive
    • Tips for using this website
    • Useful Links

Wheels Alive

Old cars, new cars, borrowed cars & blue cars. If it steers it's here!

Old cars, new cars, borrowed cars & blue cars. If it steers it's here!

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Circuit of Wales debacle – Lessons for the future…

Author/Source: Robin Roberts

23rd May 2018

Circuit of Wales was a car-crash for Welsh Government…

By Robin Roberts.

Senior civil servants in Wales have been criticised by the Welsh Public Accounts Committee over their botched handling of financial affairs surrounding the failed £433M Circuit of Wales.

Account Managers on the committee said the officials made “inexplicable decisions” about the spending and authorised £9M initial investment, but it’s unlikely to see £7.3M returned as the developers have taken legal steps to protect themselves from liquidation. They had wanted about £200M from Welsh Government.

The civil servants also failed to keep Government ministers informed about the progress of the investment and its spending, including a £42,500 monthly payment for consultancy services to Mr Michael Carrick (pictured below), boss of Aventa Capital Partners and also the man behind the Heads of the Valleys Development Company which secured the initial investment from Welsh Government. He had used some money to develop his home garden and £300,000 to buy a Buckinghamshire motor-cycle firm which failed.

The senior Welsh Government civil servant dealing with the project was James Price, then deputy permanent secretary at the economy department with a salary of over £135,000 a year.

About the same time last June as Welsh Government showed the chequered flag to further investing in Circuit of Wales, he was moved sideways to become chief executive of the Transport for Wales body overseeing the £5 Billion Metro development, with electrification of the Valleys Lines, and Wales and Borders rail franchise.

Ministers have hinted that Transport for Wales will ultimately oversee major road schemes and bus regulation as well as other developed transport powers.

Yesterday, the Public accounts committee chairman Nick Ramsay said the public were “misled” over the Circuit of Wales project and wants spending controls tightened.

The Welsh Government said it recognised there were “lessons to be learnt”.

Save Post as PDF

Categories: News & Views

Tip: For improved search accuracy, enclose search terms for multiple words in quotation marks. For example:
"Land Rover".

Advertise with us

Recent Posts

Toyota C-HR 1.8 Design – Brief Impressions

OMODA 9 Launch (and First Impressions) at The House of OMODA

Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy – Road Test

May sales figures for new cars in the UK show an interesting story…

National Motor Museum’s ‘Chatty Caravan’ inspires conversations in the community

Family-friendly History Re-enactment Weekend comes to Beaulieu

Electrified classic Mini, developed by Fellten – Brief First Impressions

British Motor Museum to host three STEM Careers Days this summer

Contributors

contributors

Our well-respected contributors live and breathe motor cars; aren’t we lucky?

Contributors to the site include talented, highly-respected people (so they tell me) on the hallowed membership list of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and from the similarly well thought-of Western Group of Motoring Writers. In addition there are valued contributions from other knowledgeable and capable motoring writers who have something useful to say about all aspects of driving and running vehicles in the 21st Century. All of our team are passionate about motor cars!


Read about our contributors  ››

Tags

hatchback Seven seater SUV crossover Suzuki SUV First Impressions Electric large SUV Coupé Compact SUV Estate car five door hatchback luxury SUV PHEV estate British Motor Museum EV plug-in hybrid all-electric City car The Motor Ombudsman Hybrid Kia National Motor Museum saloon road test Beaulieu Tyres 4x4 MPV

All Tags ››

Like us on Facebook

Like us on Facebook

Wheels Alive Social

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Please share our website

Contact us

We welcome your questions, comments and feedback. Please click here to contact us.

Advertising Opportunities

Please contact us if you would like to discuss advertising opportunities on Wheels Alive.

Copyright © 2025 Kim Henson, Wheels Alive