Forgotten British super track cost millions before being abandoned without staging a single race

Plans to build a 'super' racetrack in Wales were ultimately abandoned despite over £7 million being spent on the project.

In 2013, Welsh councillors gave the green light to plans which would have seen a new circuit built near the town of Ebbw Vale, which is part of the Blaenau Gwent county.

It was claimed that 'thousands of jobs' would be created through the project, with estimated costs of around £280 million before completion.

The circuit, which was to be called the Circuit of Wales, would have covered 830 acres of land and been able to host all forms of motorsport except Formula 1.

It would have featured 22 corners, with a series of hairpins and high-speed turns, and would have spanned approximately 5.63 kilometres.

In 2014, the circuit agreed a five-year deal to hold MotoGP races, replacing Silverstone as the host of the British Grand Prix from 2015 onwards.

But three years later, the Welsh government rejected a proposal which would have seen them contribute £210 million in taxpayer guarantees to the project.

They instead decided to build an automotive business park, with the 'thousands of jobs' claim said to have been 'overstated'.

You can see how the track would have looked, had it been completed as planned, below.

By then, the project's costs were slated to have risen to £433 million, according to the BBC, with no end in sight.

A 2018 report by the Welsh Senedd - the equivalent of the Houses of Parliament in London - found that government ministers had made 'inexplicable decisions' in backing the project.

By 2021, it was said that the government would have 'little chance' of recovering the £7.35 million it spent, with the Circuit of Wales organisers having entered into a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) in June 2018 with reported debts of over £30 million.

A CVA allows insolvent companies to pay creditors over a fixed period of time, and allow it to keep trading if all parties agree.

But the project is now defunct, with the local council now looking at ways to regenerate the land in the proposed area of the racetrack.

As per South Wales Argus, Ellie Fry, who is the economic development leader of Blaenau Gwent Council, confirmed last year that the authority is seeking to 'agree an option' for the development of land.

Motor racing, however, is not part of that plan.