A Llandudno councillor has branded Welsh Labour’s decision to splurge nearly £250,000 of taxpayers’ money on “counting the number of moths on the Great Orme” as “crazy”. Speaking at a Tory conference in Llangollen last week, Cllr Louise Emery raised the issue of a grant paid by the Welsh Government to Conwy County Council.
The “Cryptic Creatures of the Creuddyn” is a two-year project centred on invertebrates associated with limestone habitats on the Creuddyn peninsula. The scheme, being delivered by the Heritage Fund, was given a £248,348 grant in February 2024 from the Government’s Nature Networks Fund and will include work in schools.
Louise Emery, a Conservative councillor in Llandudno, told Wales Online: “Whilst local authority budgets are really being squeezed, the Welsh Government finds money for projects such as Cryptic Creatures of the Creuddyn.
“On its own merit, in its own little world, I can see some benefit to that, but in the grand financial picture of what local authorities are facing, I find it incredible that they can find money for a project like this but we can’t find money for basic public amenities such as toilets, or looking after our parks and gardens or highways.”
She added that the Welsh Government desperately needs to better allocate funds to councils to deliver on essential services.
She said: “We are seeing a lack of investment in roads, and it is priorities. The worst one I’ve heard of is £250,000 counting the number of moths on the Great Orme – crazy!” she said at the conference.
“So there is money. It is always about priorities. So we need to say as the Welsh Conservatives, who will be in power in 2027, that we need to focus on the absolute basics of what we do at local authorities: collect the bins, educate your children, and look after your vulnerable, and fix your highways, essentially.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “The Cryptic Creatures of the Creuddyn project was awarded £248,348 as part of the Nature Networks Fund in February 2024. It is a collaborative initiative led by Conwy County Borough Council in partnership with Natural Resources Wales and Butterfly Conservation.
“The project is carrying out surveys and protecting rare and at-risk invertebrate such as the micro-moth, measuring about 2cm across which has been found in abundance in its only known Welsh Habitat. This work will inform future habitat management and conservation strategies.”
