Carmarthenshire County Council has a master plan to regenerate Ammanford in the coming years following claims the body is prioritising investment in nearby Carmarthen instead.

Councillor Alun Lenny, the council's cabinet member for resources, said there was an intention to refresh the town and that discussions over what form that will take are ongoing.

It comes after councillor Kevin Madge criticised the council for not investing enough money into the Amman Valley at a recent meeting.

The council purchased the Wilko store in Carmarthen and work on transforming the town's former Debenhams building into a health and wellbeing hub began last week.

Responding to Mr Madge, Mr Lenny said: “As you know, there is a master plan for Ammanford. There are discussions going on now and feasibility studies being made to develop the area.

“As you also know, levelling up money has been used on a substantial street, seeing improvement in the town. It’s not a matter of all of treating one town differently to another.”

Mr Lenny was asked to reveal the purchase price of the former Wilko store, but refused to do so.

He added: “I can’t reveal the purchase price at this stage for commercially confidential reasons. All I can tell him is that a new school in the Amman Valley was more than we paid for the Wilko store which was also substantially granted.

“This is an investment to save venture by repaying us an annual rent which will bring us an income. It also means the council can choose what type of business we would like there.

“We are already in discussions with interested retail parties and in due course I will announce who they are and how many jobs they will be creating which will be to the benefit of all in commute distance to our county town.

“It’s just not true that we don’t have money to invest in schools in Ammanford and Llanelli. There’s a substantial pot of money available. It’s a matter of spending it wisely in the face of rising construction costs.”

Mr Madge responded by asking Mr Lenny why he treats Carmarthen differently to towns around Amman Valley while pointing out the millions of pounds invested into transforming Debenhams.

The project was granted £18 million from the UK government and the Welsh government contributed £7 million via the Health and Social Care Integration and Rebalancing Capital Fund Programme.

Mr Madge also claimed that Carmarthenshire County Council had the opportunity to purchase a Poundstretcher store in Ammanford for six figures yet turned it down.

He said: “There are double standards. They buy buildings in Carmarthen while the Amman Valley is left behind.”