The Valleys Taskforce

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 2:13 pm on 8 May 2019.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 2:13, 8 May 2019

Thank you. I can assure my colleague that I'm continuing the work that he began to make sure that we make the most of the Heads of the Valleys road. I discussed this with the leader of the council last week, and I've been grateful to him for the conversations that we've had around it too. the work that he commissioned from the University of South Wales has reported, and it's been a valuable start. We've set up a working group as part of the taskforce to see if we can develop that further, and are now, through a working group, looking at further data to enhance that, and we will be developing a plan. Moreover, we are committed to looking in particular at the northern Valleys to see how we can address the conditions there, and I'm talking to council leaders about their views about not focusing all the money that we have allocated into the hubs, which predominantly sit in the southern part of the Valleys, and instead seeing how we can take a more thematic approach to allow councils themselves to address priority areas, to spread that funding right throughout the Valleys, not just in the hubs. And I'll be updating Members soon, I hope, with progress, once I finish meeting all of the council leaders.