Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:48 pm on 20 October 2021.
Well, I've got to say there’s nothing stopping the local authorities in north Wales from developing an ambitious active travel network now, nor indeed putting in bus lanes. That power has been there all along, and there’s money available to do it. So, that’s why I want to set up this delivery unit, so that we are acting far better together in pushing in the same direction.
The red route, as Jack Sargeant knows full well, is part of the roads review, and one of the purposes of the roads review is to look at how we can prioritise investment on maintaining existing infrastructure, but also creating the investment we need to create things like rapid transit bus routes and improvements in public transport more generally. So, I’m not going to guess what the roads review is going to come up with about the red route, but it’s in the pot with almost everything else to try to shift our direction of travel.
In terms of infrastructure, in terms of rail—trains, rather—on the north Wales network, we are currently progressing the class 230 trains for the Wrexham and Bidston line later this year, and we’ve introduced refurbished InterCity trains on services between north and south Wales, with increased capacity and better customer services. We’re trailing the testing of new trains around north Wales at the moment, and I’d be happy to write the Member with further details of what plans we have.