Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:59 pm on 26 March 2019.
Well, can I thank the Member for that supplementary question? He's absolutely right to draw attention to the massive investment that this Government will have made in dualling the A465. As he says, it was never a transport project; it was always an economic development project. That was the basis on which the dualling has been carried out in order, at that top end of Valleys communities, to make transport access easier and to ensure the prosperity of those communities into the future. Now, I know, because he himself was much involved in it, that, as a result of the work that is going on there, an impressive range of community benefits has been secured during the construction period, with training for local people, employment for local people and work packages for local businesses. The point that Alun Davies makes is that, beyond the construction period, we have to go on making sure that the investment made in the road continues to provide economic opportunity. There was a meeting last year with officials, together with local authorities, business leaders, the Industrial Communities Alliance and the Bevan Foundation, to plan how to maximise the economic opportunities that dualling will provide. As a result, the Welsh Government has commissioned the University of South Wales to bring forward a set of ideas, proposals, priorities and so on, so that we can ensure that the road delivers exactly what the Member for Blaenau Gwent has said—long-term prospects for the economy of that part of Wales.