The North Wales Metro

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 1:37 pm on 6 October 2021.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 1:37, 6 October 2021

Thank you. Well, the metros in different parts of Wales are at different ranges of development. The south Wales metro, for example, is more advanced, and it's a massively complex project. The one in north Wales is a different mix of modes—there are fewer train lines than you have in the south Wales Valleys, for example,  and so bus has a far greater role to play, as does active travel. I think one of the challenges we have is the capacity of local authorities. I had a meeting with local authority leaders this morning, along with the rest of my Cabinet colleagues, and we discussed this—how we can use the corporate joint committees to pool knowledge and know-how and people to try and create extra capacity, working alongside Transport for Wales.

Again, we have an example in Newport, where the Burns delivery unit has created a model where Transport for Wales, the local authority and the Welsh Government are working cheek by jowl to deliver the schemes set out in the Burns report. And that, I think, could be a model for the north. I had a meeting with the North Wales Economic Ambition Board transport sub-group—that's a mouthful, isn't it—on Friday morning, in which I discussed this very challenge, and I asked them to think about how they'd be willing to pool resources together and how we could help them, both to fund that and to make sure it's operationalised. But the north Wales metro, I think, has got huge potential. It will happen in phases, but, given the imperative of acting on climate change and achieving modal shift, it is a key development for the region.