The Heads of the Valleys Road

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 2:08 pm on 2 October 2019.

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Photo of Vikki Howells Vikki Howells Labour 2:08, 2 October 2019

Thank you, Minister. My question follows on from a question that I asked the Deputy Minister on this topic in Plenary just before recess. My constituency contains two villages that border the Heads of the Valleys road, both of which suffer from terrible broadband. In fact, I had an e-mail from a constituent in one of those villages just last night saying that the 3MB connection is what they could get on a good day. Those villages are Penderyn and Croesbychan, a hamlet of Llwydcoed. It's my understanding that when the construction process goes ahead, Openreach will be laying new cables alongside the road. And so, what I would ask of you is: would you be willing to have a dialogue with Openreach to see if community benefits can be brought? It seems like the ideal time to actually finally lay good infrastructure to those villages and a cost-effective way of doing so.