2. How is the Welsh Government improving transport infrastructure in Alyn and Deeside? OQ57715

Thank you. Our multimillion-pound north Wales metro programme will transform rail, bus and active travel services across the area. I have also announced a north Wales transport commission that will develop a pipeline of transport schemes for north Wales, including Alyn and Deeside.

I'm grateful to the Minister for that response, and, of course, we await the outcome of the roads review you mentioned in the previous question and the decision on the red route in Deeside. Now, of course, the red route was conceived to reduce air pollution in recognition that residents need solutions to this very dangerous problem. If, for example, the red route were not to proceed, the expectation from me and the residents of Alyn and Deeside is that the money allocated to it should be spent tackling air pollution in Deeside, as I believe the case was when the M4 relief road was decided against in Newport. So, can I ask you, therefore, Deputy Minister, what consideration have you given to ring-fencing this money for the area where it originally was allocated to, to be spent on new projects that will help address this very Deeside-specific issue?

Thank you. As you say, the roads review is looking at the red route, along with 54 other schemes, and it's doing that methodically, and it will report in the summer. So, we shouldn't second-guess what the outcome of that process will be, because I'm assuming there will be road schemes going ahead, but I'm also assuming that a large number of them will not be. So, it's entirely reasonable to anticipate what would happen in that scenario. I think I'd just point to him, on the funding point of view, that this is estimated to be a £300 million scheme; we don't have £300 million sitting in our budget, waiting to be spent on this scheme. Indeed, the whole point of the Burns review into the M4 was to find the solution that cost half the price of the proposed M4 and which still addressed the congestion issue. So, what I'm hoping, through the roads review and the Burns commission for north Wales, is that we'll identify transport solutions to problems that are compatible with our climate change commitments, as well as addressing local transport problems, but we need to do it in a way that makes best use of the funding we have available, bearing in mind that I was just telling the Chamber about the grave situation we have with climate change.

Now, there is significant investment going into north Wales, into public transport improvements. From this May, we'll have an increasing number of services on the borderlands line, between Wrexham and Bidston, to two per hour. We'll have a new hourly service between Liverpool and Llandudno from December 2023, and, from December 2024, a new service every two hours between Liverpool and Cardiff, and an hourly service between Shrewsbury and Liverpool. So, I think, after a long and patient wait for the people of north Wales, the infrastructure investment we're putting in is now bearing fruit. The key task for the Burns commission is to stitch that together, because we want people to feel that the easiest way to get around is public transport for the majority of journeys. That's not the reality for most people at the moment, and our exam question is: how do we get that to change?

The prospectus issued in 2016 by the Growth Track 360 partnership—a cross-border alliance of business, political and public sector leaders, including the North Wales Economic Ambition Board and the Mersey Dee Alliance—stated that being able to link into HS2 would reduce congestion, improve business logistics and attract investment and jobs. And in January, the Growth Track 360 partnership welcomed the introduction of the UK High Speed Rail (Crewe-Manchester) Bill, which will facilitate the construction of HS2, where confirmed plans include the new junction north of Crewe station that they had called for. In fact, their vice-chair, leader of Flintshire County Council, said,

'Our industrial, commercial and tourism destinations would receive a tremendous boost through enhanced direct rail connectivity with London, Manchester and Manchester Airport provided by HS2 if our local lines are upgraded at the same time.'

But when the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Mersey Dee north Wales raised a similar issue in the House of Commons—the Vale of Clwyd MP, Dr James Davies—he got quite an encouraging response from the relevant UK Minister, who said that they would engage positively with the union connectivity review, which included connections between Wales and Northern Ireland, published last November. So, what engagement are you having with all these various agencies, to capitalise on the opportunities that they're all seeking, and the general welcome they've all given to January's announcement?

Well, I was pleased that Growth Track 360 warmly welcomed the announcement of the north Wales transport commission, and that responds both to the recommendation of the roads review and to the union connectivity review by Sir Peter Hendy, which called for a multimodal study across north Wales. Obviously, part of that work will be looking at how rail services in the north can connect through to HS2, if and when it arrives, though I think we should be all concerned about the lack of investment in Wales by the UK Government on rail and the lack of a Barnett consequential from the money from HS2. I note he's optimistic in pointing to the benefits to the north of having some connectivity into a line in England, but there is no benefit directly for passengers in Wales, or for infrastructure in Wales, and that should concern us all, across all parties.