Trunk Roads in Monmouthshire

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:58 pm on 26 March 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 1:58, 26 March 2019

I’m grateful to the First Minister for that earlier answer. Prior to visiting the new hospital in the Grange, I visited the site of the A465 dualling between Gilwern and Brynmawr, and I spoke to people there about the progress they're making. And when that dualling project is completed, we will have spent something like £500 million in this Assembly delivering on our manifesto pledge to deliver economic benefits for the people across the whole of the Heads of the Valleys.

First Minister, it’s important for us that we maximise the value of this to those communities that run alongside the A465. None of us wants to build a bypass, what we want to do is to build an investment in the future economy of those communities to ensure that we can ensure that we do have the investment that we need to address the poverty that we see all too often in the northern Valleys area. Can you commit, First Minister, to ensuring that we do have an economic development plan that runs alongside the dualling of the A465 to ensure that we do maximise the benefit and maximise the impact of that investment for the people who live in the Heads of the Valleys?