5. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on Welsh Government proposals to improve transport links in the Swansea bay city region? OAQ52259

The national transport finance plan, which was updated in 2017, sets out our programme for the next three years and beyond.

Can I thank you for that answer? Most movement in the Swansea bay city region is within the region, not out of it. I believe there is a need for the cycle paths to be completed, railway stations such as Landore to be reopened, and bus-rail interchanges to be created. What progress has been made by the Welsh Government on these types of schemes to improve transport within the Swansea bay city region?

Well, can I thank Mike Hedges for his question? I'm pleased to say that huge progress has been made within the Swansea bay area in terms of enhancing the provision of public transport and improving the provision of roads for motorists, relieving congestion. We've asked Transport for Wales to develop a detailed traffic model for south-west Wales, which includes the Swansea bay area, and it's essential that we fully understand the problems that need to be resolved to ensure the best model is developed. We've provided £1.4 million for the Safe Routes in Communities programme, and almost £2 million from the local transport fund for active travel schemes in this financial year, and an additional £1 million has been allocated to the Swansea bay city region specifically for pre-works on active travel schemes, to develop a pipeline of active travel projects. Of course, the £60 million that has been made available could be utilised for some of those projects, and I'm also very pleased to be able to inform the Member today that we will be putting forward Landore as one of the possible options to be considered as part of the exercise of opening up stations. 

Cabinet Secretary, the Swansea bay city region gives us an opportunity to improve transport links right across the city region. That, of course, includes Pembrokeshire. As you know, I'm an avid supporter of dualling the A40 in Pembrokeshire, and you've made it clear in previous statements that you'll be developing a programme in due course, alongside other priorities that are identified in the national transport finance plan. Can you therefore provide an update on where the Welsh Government is in making this scheme an actual reality?

I'll write to the Member with the specific time frame and the details of what parts of the A40 will be dualled.FootnoteLink It was a clear manifesto pledge that we would look at dualling parts of the A40, and we now have the pinchpoint scheme, as well, that will enable that to happen. I'll do that as soon as possible.

Information further to Plenary

Turning back to the Swansea bay city region and travelling in and out of that region, we’ve concentrated a great deal in the past few days on the rail franchise, which is in the hands of the Welsh Government but, of course, there is still important transport into Swansea, and Carmarthen also, with First Great Western and companies coming into Wales, and Network Rail still owns that. The suggestion has been made by people such as Stuart Cole that now pressure should be put on to speed trains up to 100 mph along those routes, and to make that journey from Swansea to Cardiff, for example, a 40-minute journey. Is that something that the Government is proceeding with in terms of negotiations with the Westminster Government?

Yes, it is. We've been clear that we expect to see improved journey times between London and Cardiff, and also between Cardiff and Swansea. It's a fact that it takes longer today than it did in the past to get from London to Cardiff, and therefore London to Swansea. This is appalling, considering how much funding has been made available over the past decade or more for the rail network elsewhere in the UK. So, we're particularly keen to ensure that journey times reduce, but I should just say that we are not so keen on seeing stations bypassed by any main line services. I think it's absolutely vital that communities across south Wales have access to the main line, but that, in between stations, improvements should be made to signalling, for example, that reduce journey times between those communities.