11. 10. Welsh Conservatives Debate: The Welsh Government’s National Strategy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:48 pm on 27 September 2017.

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Photo of Janet Finch-Saunders Janet Finch-Saunders Conservative 4:48, 27 September 2017

Thank you. You might not like these facts, these figures, these stats, but they are true. We know we have 23,000 empty properties in Wales. Conwy alone has over 1,500. Yet the ‘Prosperity for All’ document doesn’t even mention this. This is a national resource, the use of which is a no-brainer.

On infrastructure and transport, seamless infrastructure is key to economic growth in Wales. However, the rate at which infrastructure is being delivered in Wales is a national embarrassment. We continue to see chronically poor broadband coverage in rural areas, with over 94,000—that’s three in 10 properties—unable to obtain a connection of over 10 Mbps. The number of registered bus services in Wales dropped from 1,943 in March 2005 to 1,283, leaving many of our rural communities and our residents facing increased isolation. The Enterprise and Business Committee stated last year that the Welsh Government’s response to a report on community transport in 2013 was disappointingly slow, despite the Welsh Government pilot project, Go Cymru, being completed in April of that year. Community transport is an essential service for older people and rural communities, enabling many to get out and about and reach vital services that they would otherwise struggle to access.

Deputy Llywydd, this document does little to reassure the people of Wales that Welsh Labour are making a targeted effort to work for them. I believe that this document will go exactly where the programme for government is—it will just go on a shelf, gathering dust. There are no deliverable or measurable targets. There are no outcomes. This Government is failing the people of Wales. You are failing the people of Aberconwy as well. [Interruption.] I rest my case.