Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:14 pm on 8 June 2021.
I'm grateful to the First Minister for his written answer to my question relating to the Pencoed level crossing on 26 May. It's encouraging to hear that the final designs and costs of the project will be finalised this year. I fully appreciate that projects of this complexity and scale can take a significant amount of time, however I would say that whispers of this project have been around since before I was doing my GCSEs, which I was shocked to realise was actually a decade ago. But that's the length of time we are talking about here—[Interruption.] That's the length of time we are talking about, First Minister. We aren't talking about a decade between the project's start and completion; the project hasn't even started yet. The third stage of what is known as the Welsh transport appraisal guidance is set to take place this financial year, and that's the third stage out of five. Given the length of time we've been considering this project, I'd be grateful to the First Minister if he could set out a projected timeline for this project's completion. I appreciate he may not be able to give an answer now, but I would certainly welcome a more detailed written response if he feels it's more appropriate. I'm sure he's aware that this project is going to cause significant disruption to the local community, and I'm sure that they would welcome a projected timeline so that they can prepare for it.