Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 2:22 pm on 10 November 2021.
Thank you. I agree with that analysis. I absolutely share her desire to see a south-west Wales metro. I think the truth of it is that the Swansea bay metro, as we call it in shorthand, has been the least developed of the three metro schemes, and that's partly because the Swansea bay city deal has not had a focus on transport in the way that the other city deals, city regions, have had. Some work was begun by the local authorities, which we've now asked Transport for Wales to take in-house to accelerate, and there is work going on about doing long-term planning and mapping of where the metro could be developed, and there is progress being made, and I can assure her that I've been chasing that since taking up the role. That is something that we need to accelerate as we see the corporate joint committees empowered from next year. It's vital that they work with us and Transport for Wales to do more to fill those gaps on the map, because, if we are going to achieve the ambition of 'Llwybr Newydd' and if we are going to meet our climate change objectives, we absolutely have to see in south-west Wales what we are now seeing in Cardiff and the Valleys through the development of the metro, both in public transport, bus and rail, but also integration with active travel. So, there's much more that we need to do in the south-west.