Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales – in the Senedd at 1:33 pm on 26 February 2020.
Thank you, and your sympathy is very, very much appreciated. Recent flood devastation, of course, as you mentioned, has seen the railway seriously damaged, and it is really quite sad when you think that £7.5 million of investment has gone into it only recently. But this line is beleaguered by problems with even the mildest rain. So, when we get a flood situation, it's weeks and weeks before it gets to where people are not having to use bus replacements. But we have also seen too many times the A470 closed to the north of Llanrwst. Only as recently as Saturday, it was extremely difficult to get into Llanrwst at all. So, despite the Welsh Government investing in improvements between Penllwyn and Tan Lan and in Maenan, the road still closes. Traffic is forced off the trunk road onto the maze of the local authority-managed lanes in Maenan. And I know that for me to get to Llanrwst on Saturday, I went right over the top of Eglwysbach and Llanddoged. These roads simply cannot cope with any significant volume of traffic going in both directions.
What action will you take to help create a feasible route for individuals needing to travel up and down the east of the Conwy Valley, during what looks very likely now, going forward, to be repeat incidences of severe flooding?