Pencoed Road and Rail Capacity

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 29 January 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:32, 29 January 2019

I thank the Member for that supplementary question. And, Llywydd, returning early this morning from Tata Steel, where the Minister and I had been with David Rees celebrating the refit of the new blast furnace 5, and discussing that matter, we took the opportunity to go off the road and to see the sight of the level crossing. And once you see it for yourself, you absolutely understand the points that Huw Irranca-Davies is making, and I wanted to pay tribute to the indefatigable way in which I know that he has pursued this issue, not just in this Assembly, but when he was a Member of Parliament as well, attempting to get a solution to what is, as Members have heard, a very real blight on the need to bring about improvement in that area. 

I am very glad that the Welsh Government has been able to put some money on the table to break the deadlock that otherwise was there, but the Member is completely right in saying that our money—the £60,000 we have put forward for the feasibility study—will only really bear fruit when the results of a feasibility study are funded, and, for that, we will need the help of the Department for Transport in London, as well as our own resources.