A �5m scheme to redevelop a youth camp, used by thousands of children from across the world every year, has got under way.

The Urdd centre in Llangrannog, Ceredigion, offers residential courses and was set up in 1932 to promote Welsh language and culture.

This initiative will help us to grow and develop and help us sustain our role in the community

Steff Jenkins, centre director

The project includes a new sports hall, a heritage centre and an upgrade of the accommodation facilities.

The project is expected to take between 12 and 15 months to complete and will create 30 jobs - taking the workforce to 80.

About 20,000 people, mainly children, visit the centre each year.

The Welsh youth movement - the Urdd - says this project brings the investment in its centres across Wales to �10m over two years.

Llangrannog centre director Steff Jenkins said: "Work on the heritage centre, which will be based at our farm, is the first part of the project to get under way.

"This will reflect the culture and history of the area and of Wales as a whole.

"It will also allow us to develop a green tourism theme with the gwersyll (centre) becoming a car-free zone."

The centre overlooks Cardigan Bay

A recent feasibility study showed the camp contributed about �2m to the local economy in an area which has been hit by job losses.

It is 12 miles away from Cardigan which last week saw the closure of the Dewhirst clothing factory with the loss of 325 jobs.

Mr Jenkins added: "We recognise that we are an important employer in the area.

"This initiative will help us to grow and develop and help us sustain our role in the community."

The Urdd has provided �2m towards the project from its own sources.

The remainder will be made up from grants from Sportlot, Wales Tourist Board, Objective One European funding, the Garfield Weston Foundation and local regeneration aid through Ceredigion County Council.

Youth investment

The Urdd is hopeful of support from the Welsh Development Agency and the Welsh Assembly.

The organisation also plans to invest �1m in its centre at Glanllyn near Bala in north west Wales and is due to open a third centre in the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.

Urdd chief executive Jim O'Rourke said: "It will mean we can provide facilities for 50,000 young people by 2005.

"It shows how the Urdd is responding confidently to the challenges of the new millennium."