5. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport: Connecting Wales, a strategic approach to Transport

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:31 pm on 12 December 2017.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 4:31, 12 December 2017

Cabinet Secretary, I do hope that the appraisal guidance to be published tomorrow isn't just going to be a revisit because it seems to me that, after 10 years, we really do need a complete rewrite of the transport strategy. Because, one of the key goals of the 2008 strategy was that there would be modal shift to public transport: park and ride, walking and cycling. We simply haven't seen that. I am somewhat alarmed by the sentence in your statement that says,

'Forecasts show increased demand of at least 150% for public transport and private vehicle modes by 2030.'

This seems to be a neutral statement, you know, standing by it. Are we not going to do anything about that? We absolutely, in my view, have to do something about getting that modal shift that was promised in 2008 that has failed to be delivered. Otherwise the Welsh Government will end up in court because of the illegal levels of air pollution that my constituents are suffering. 

So, are we going to passively continue to pander to the car lobby, who will undoubtedly continue to demand a free lunch, asking the taxpayer to pay for more and more roads, which they refuse to pay for, while people who rely on public transport continue to see increase after increase in the amount they have to pay to travel by it? That is the explanation why people continue to use cars in order to get to work. This is not an efficient use of their time; it's because they simply don't have affordable, integrated public transport that is reliable and will get them there on time.

What I want to know is: will this radical change of land-use planning that you referred to mean we won't see any more out-of-town shopping centres, which artificially drive up car journeys and bleed town centres and local economies of Welsh pounds? And will this radical change of land-use planning mean we won't allow private house builders to develop large housing estates on greenfield sites, unless they are connected to the metro or other substantial public transport? Because, that is what we need if we are going to really meet our climate change obligations; not simply standing by and allowing more and more car journeys to drown out all the public transport journeys that were previously there before.