Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:44 pm on 13 October 2020.
Thank you, acting Presiding Officer. Can I thank the Deputy Minister for his statement? I fully endorse what he has been saying relating to the need to take action. Only last weekend I actually came across a parked van in a nasty section of road up the Afan valley, and I was forced onto the road, and that situation should never arise. I accept everything he has said about looking, for the future, at a modal change in people's behaviour and the reduction in vehicles, but we're not there yet, and we still have a lot of work to be done to get there while we get our public transport in place. Therefore, will he look very carefully at some of the temporary actions that can be taken to support people, to make sure that people come with us? I don't like talking about this as a cash revenue for local authorities, because people will see it merely as a means of them getting cash, not actually understanding the purpose of it; and the purpose of it is to actually ensure safe pedestrianisation for everybody. So, will you look at temporary measures in the meantime until we get to the position where we have an effective public transport system and we are then able to actually see the reduction in vehicles? Because there are many people in many communities for whom, at this point in time and maybe for the foreseeable future, the vehicle is the only way they can get to work or the only way they can get to their essential places. But we do need to view both: movement in one direction, but, at the same time, support that movement by offering alternatives temporarily.