Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:37 pm on 19 January 2021.
Can I thank Helen Mary Jones for welcoming the approach that we've set out today, and for her constructive set of questions? We do, of course, support the devolution of rail infrastructure in Wales, and there was a debate and a vote in the Senedd back in February 2019 that called for that. So, I think I just want to make sure that point is understood by Plaid Cymru—that is something that this Government does support.
She asked, 'Do I think the UK Government gets the need to deliver on this report and the urgency of it?' Well, I suppose the jury is out on that, if I'm frank. As I've made clear, this is a shared responsibility. The fact that they have not delivered our share of rail infrastructure for some time has got to make me concerned about that. In fact, they've only set out a plan for something like £60 million-worth of railway improvements for the next 10 years, rather than the £5 billion that we would be entitled to. So, I think there is a call on them, really, to show that they do get it. And we've had constructive conversations with both the Department for Transport and, as I say, Sir Peter Hendy. So, let us be optimistic that that is indeed the case.
She also asks about the bus network and the powers necessary. Well, there is much that we can do through our bus emergency scheme. I met this week with the main local government leaders across Wales to discuss collaboration for what we're calling the bus emergency scheme 2, and sign-up for that. And that was a very consensual and very encouraging conversation. The industry is also engaging very well with us. So, we hope to be in a position where we can get all partners signed up to a framework for taking forward the funding and the organising of the bus industry that enables us to deliver many of the things that we were planning to use the legislation to achieve. Now that's no longer possible to pass that law in this Senedd term, we do think we have found another way to achieve much of it, but not all of it, and officials are drafting bus legislation should the next Welsh Government want to take that forward. And certainly, if we are in a position to form the Government, then we certainly will want to do that, because there is unfinished business, which is needed to make the system work well.
In terms of the governance mechanisms—Helen Mary Jones asks—well, as I say, it's a shared responsibility. And also her last question, 'Well, when will people see a change?'—well, we can commit to our part of that, but obviously it requires the others to commit to their parts of that as well. So, for example, the local roads in Newport are the responsibility of the local highway authority. The Welsh Government does not have power over Newport's roads. So, the bus measures and the active travel measures—we can provide funding for them, we can provide encouragement for them, we can provide help in designing them, but we can't deliver them without the co-operation of the local authority. And, of course, there has been a mixed record in recent decades in Newport council about their attitude to bus lanes. The previous Conservative administration in Newport tore up the bus lanes. So, I understand that there is scepticism amongst the public about that, but this current administration is working with us very well, is very positive, and certainly is committed to achieving the vision of this report.
So, when will people see change? Well, it's not entirely in our hands, but I certainly hope they'll see change within 18 months to two years—the start of it—but this is a 10-year project and will require—certainly the rail measures will require—a lot of work at a UK level. At the end of it, we expect to see 80 per cent of the people in the region within one mile of a high-quality public transport installation. That can be a game changer for a city the size of Newport, which has suffered for too long with poor air quality, with disadvantage for people on lower incomes because they weren't able to access transport easily, and their life chances and employment chances because of that. So, the prize of this goes way beyond a lot of transport-related gubbins. This is about people's lives and their life chances and I think it is a vision that we can all get behind.