The slow roll out of the new convergence funding programme in Wales has frustrated council leaders across the country. The convergence programme, which follows on from Objective One funding and is designed to help the poorest regions improve economic performance, was started in January 2007. But over a year after it was launched hundreds of proposals are still being assessed. ‘We are now nearly 15 months into the new programme and it has got off to a very slow start,' said Cllr Chris Holley, WLGA European spokesman. ‘This will be the last time we can expect to receive such high levels of funding from Europe and it is extremely important that Wales gets to see the maximum benefit of it. ‘We are concerned at delays in the programme's delivery and implementation and the overall lack of progress. Latest advice from the Welsh European Funding Office suggests that it will potentially take between six and nine months for some projects to be approved and their remains real confusion about how some of these new programmes will even work.'
