Public Transport Connectivity

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 1:30 pm on 26 February 2020.

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Photo of Angela Burns Angela Burns Conservative 1:30, 26 February 2020

Minister, I am here to make an unashamed pitch, to ask Welsh Government to support the St Clears railway station application to Network Rail to open up a railway station again in St Clears. It was closed in 1964, and there has been a campaign that's been long running for the last decade to try to reopen it. St Clears is a burgeoning town. The absence of that railway station is an absolute gap in the west Wales network. There are lots and lots of modern houses, not just in St Clears, but the villages around, and you either have to go to Carmarthen or Whitland, neither of which, actually, are big enough to deal with some of the issues, like the parking, and so on; Whitland is an absolute nightmare, as you will be more than aware. 

You, as I understand it, have the third phase of the consultation going out. There is a petition in place, and we think that Cardiff, with Ely Mill, has already got quite a lot of stations all around Cardiff. We understand that there is a strong pitch for Carno and for Deeside, but St Clears is already on a mainline route. It would be a very easy win, and it would really help with things like social inclusion, with making that town not just a far distance satellite, but part of the whole Carmarthen and Swansea network, and we really are counting on your support.