2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:48 pm on 26 November 2019.

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Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 2:48, 26 November 2019

Two issues, if I may, Trefnydd. First of all—well, the first issue, actually, that I was going to raise with you has already been very eloquently raised by Mike Hedges, with regard to the free swimming initiative and the changes made to that. And I hear what you say about a small minority—I think 6 per cent, you said, was the uptake of that. So, nothing's perfect, and I know that the independent review suggested it wasn't fit for purpose, but, like Mike Hedges, I've got constituents, older constituents, who have been concerned about it. So, given that the decision has been taken by the Welsh Government to finish with that scheme, I wonder if they could be reassured with what alternative might be forthcoming or in what other ways older people can be encouraged to take up a benefit such as swimming or maybe other activities. I think that that would be appreciated, because there are concerns out there.

Secondly, the Welsh Government has recently announced 66 active travel projects from the Wales infrastructure investment plan. I've just been looking through the projects now, the allocation for 2019-20, and I see that there are two projects in Monmouthshire: Abergavenny town centre active travel improvement phase 3—quite a mouthful—which is being funded to the tune of £300,000; and also there's £50,000 available for a multi-modal Chepstow traffic study. Can I welcome both of these? I think it's good to see that, after years of talking about active travel—and I remember when the Minister came to the previous Enterprise and Business Committee and gave evidence supporting the creation of the active travel Bill—it's good to see that we're getting some development now of actual projects on the ground, which is what it was all about in those early days. So, I've mentioned those two projects; obviously, other AMs will be interested in projects in their constituencies. I wonder if the Minister could bring forward a statement to this Chamber as soon as possible so that we can discuss these issues more fully.