3. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services: 'Our Valleys, Our Future' Progress Report

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:17 pm on 10 July 2018.

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Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 3:17, 10 July 2018

Presiding Officer, the Rhymney valley has some great advocates speaking on its behalf. I know that Dawn Bowden, the Member for Merthyr and Rhymney, speaks for the upper Rhymney valley and our colleague Hefin David speaks for the lower parts of the Rhymney valley with equal ferocity, shall we say. I understand the points that have been made, and I recognise those points. I'm very happy to come across to Rhymney at any point to speak and to visit and to have these conversations. But I think the fundamental point you make about the communities of the upper Valleys, of the Heads of the Valleys, is absolutely correct. I think you attended a seminar back in April to discuss some of those particular issues. All too often, we look at the Valleys as a whole without understanding the differential in the different communities and the importance of having a very focused strategy to address some of the more deep-seated issues.

For me, the Heads of the Valleys will provide the litmus test for us for whether we succeed or fail. The points made by the Plaid Cymru spokesperson were well made, and if we are to pass the tests that have been set by you and others here, it will be in places like Pontlottyn or Rhymney that that will be seen. So, let me say this: we brought together a group of people in the spring to look at how the dualling of the A465, the Heads of the Valleys road, can be used as a catalyst for change, and I believe that we need to now look at what steps and what investments we have to make in the infrastructure of the upper Valleys to realise that ambition. I can see the Member for Cynon Valley is here as well, and we know that from Hirwaun right across to Brynmawr, our communities face some very significant challenges that are beyond those faced by other areas—and we can debate as to whether they are part of the Valleys or not at perhaps another time.

The key issue of the upper Valleys is firmly in the centre of my mind, and I hope that what we'll be able to do in the early autumn is to have in place an industrial strategy that is aimed at those upper Valley communities—an industrial strategy for the Heads of the Valleys, which looks to see how we can secure sustainable employment in and around the area of the Tower Colliery site in the upper Cynon valley, across to Merthyr itself. I think the Crucible project that we've debated before will provide a real boost for Merthyr in the way forward, and the upper Rhymney valley needs exactly the sort of investment that you've described. For my own constituency, it's about developing places like Tafarnaubach industrial estate or Rassau industrial estate, ensuring that the Tech Valleys investment doesn't simply stay in Ebbw Vale, but is able to act as a boost for investment across the whole of the Heads of the Valleys region. That is the ambition that I think we all share, and we need to make that a reality. So, I very much agree with the points that have been made.