LABOUR AND THE M4

Much hot air has been produced by the Labour Party in Newport in recent days over what may or may not be done with the M4 by the Plaid Cymru Government in order to ease congestion in Newport. 

At the moment, nothing has been decided by the Transport Minister Mark Hooper but you would not think this listened to the alarmist rhetoric coming from a party that has rightly been put on notice by the electorate. 

It may be worth remembering that Labour spent at least £135.7 million developing the Black Route before abandoning it and that Audit Wales confirmed that £43.1 million had no future value and was written off. They literally spent £135.7 million of taxpayers money to do nothing.

People should not let Labour pull the wool over their eyes over this issue or any other and should be asking their Labour Party representatives just exactly what they did to sort out our traffic woes during 27 years of unbroken power in Wales? And we all know the answer to that question.

All the talk about closing junctions merely mirrors exactly what Labour looked at doing when they were running the Senedd back in 2012 - so they should know what they are talking about. With all this scare-mongering from Labour, particularly the council leader, you can just tell there is a council election coming up next year with an added whiff of panic on Labours part. 

PLAID HOPE OR REFORM CHAOS

Election is a straight choice between Plaid hope and Reform chaos – Rhun ap Iorwerth

Plaid Cymru Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth MS will today address his party’s Spring Conference hailing the upcoming Senedd Elections as a straight choice between Plaid’s hopeful vision and the chaos Reform’s ex-Tories would bring. 

Speaking to delegates in Newport, Rhun ap Iorwerth will set out the positive case for voting Plaid Cymru on May 7th whilst accusing Reform of having “no accountability, no seriousness, no policies, and no shame in using our nation just as an electoral springboard, nothing else.” 

Rhun ap Iorwerth MS is expected to highlight the contrast between his party and Reform with Plaid Cymru’s hopeful vision, and will to stand up to Westminster in a way the current First Minister is unwilling to do so:

“We offer hope - hope that can overcome people’s fears of other political forces leading Wales down a dark path.

“Hope that things can get better for our Health Service, that our elderly relatives won’t have to wait so long for treatment or that the burden of childcare costs on our sons and daughters’ household budgets will be eased.

“And hope that, finally, Wales will have a government willing to stand up to Keir Starmer, to Jo Stevens and anyone else denying our nation the fairness it deserves.”

The Plaid Cymru Leader will warn that Reform-run councils England are the “canaries in the mine” when it comes to what the party would have in store for Wales:

“Friends, for Labour, the party is over - and so the election in May will be a choice between two contrasting futures.

“Tolerance or division. Progress or decay. Defiance or deference. Culture or ignorance. Humanity or indifference. Plaid or Reform.

“Conference, we all know that a Reform government full of ex-Tories would set our country back decades.

“Faceless candidates and feckless council leaders from Northumberland to Kent are the canaries in the mine when it comes to what Farage has in store for our parliament and our people.

“They say they accept devolution, for now. But they’d turn against it on a whim. We all know they have zero loyalty to Wales and our nationhood.

“No accountability, no seriousness, no policies, and no shame in using our nation just as an electoral springboard, nothing else. 

“And what of Farage’s man in Wales? An ex-Tory leader of a London council? Thatcher’s own council no less, but this man took privatisation to levels even she didn’t imagine.

“When we asked for a Barnet consequential, this really isn’t what we had in mind!

“With such a damning litany for a parade of ex-Tories, you’d expect them to be no-hopers too. But they’re not.

“They have deep pockets to spread propaganda and evangelise the deep fakes of Musk’s putrid platforms, and they have the right wing media in the palm of their hands.

“But despite their rags, and their riches, Wales would be so much wealthier without them.

In advance of launching Plaid Cymru’s ‘First 100 Days’ plan for government, Rhun ap Iorwerth MS is expected to say how his party will aim to deliver better government for the people of Wales:

“I want us to do politics differently in Wales. And here’s how.

“From Brexit to Covid, a sense of being unheard and not listened to has been normalised.

“A feeling of being left behind, of helplessness in the face of events and tribulation, of being let down, even abandoned by conventional politics - and the ‘establishment political parties’ - is manifest.

“We have to promote the kind of democracy that engages people and dispels cynicism.

“By empowering individuals and communities, something which runs deep in our thinking and in our values, we can revitalise what has become an almost redundant political model. We can offer Wales a different kind of deal, drawing on our collective experiences and aspirations to shape a better Wales.

“We aim to be known as a team that runs a better government, or quite simply got the basics right.

“We’ll be people centred, thinking always of the impact our policies, legislation and actions will have on people’s lives in Wales.

“We’ll be open, transparent and digitally driven, sharing information and insights, highlighting opportunities and challenges – to build a new confidence and a new trust in our Welsh democracy.

“We’ll be cooperative and collaborative, bringing people together within government, across the public sector business and beyond, to solve common problems together.

“And above all else we’ll be unrelenting in our focus on outcomes not outputs, leaning in not on how much we do but rather on the return we get from doing it.”

- ENDS -

REGENERATION - A PROCESS NOT AN EVENT

With spring and an important election (in Wales) approaching there is a whiff of regeneration in the air…

Let’s be honest, if you live in Newport or various parts of Gwent and are reasonably familiar with your home community, then over the years you may have noticed that redevelopment / regeneration comes and goes over the years, in many shapes and formats, in any particular community or town at any given time.

Regeneration schemes will have cleaned areas up, built in cycle routes, created transport plans, pedestrianised streets, reopened them to traffic, re-pedestrianised them and (as is the case in Newport and no doubt elsewhere) made certain streets shared space with both cars and pedestrians (which is actually not as crazy an idea as it sounds, and it actually works) and so on. 

In Newport we have seen parking has been restricted, created and removed, made free and charged for, we have seen bus lanes created, removed and been given limited and varied hours all within a few tier software local government.  

Now this is all well and good and while it may from time to time reflect the latest trend in regeneration and redevelopment, at the end of the day has it made the places where we live, work, socialise and shop and visit actually any better? 

The one question that tends not to be asked, and hence not answered is: Has the regeneration process or scheme increased or generated wealth in our communities or provided people with the opportunities to get jobs, to go into business for themselves or generate wealth? 

One of the unintended features of redevelopment is that quite often it can be perceived as being driven from the top down i.e. by elected bodies whether they be County Councils or the Senedd or Westminster government.  

Regeneration should never simply be a process that merely consults after the plans have been drawn up - thats not consultation thats simply window dressing.

Real and meaningly consultation should take place before, during and after - any process not run this way runs the real risk of becoming deeply flawed. 

Local communities and towns and cities of South Wales have over the years has been the recipient of much grant aid, development and redevelopment schemes and initiatives - how can we measure success? 

Measuring a regeneration schemes success should be a key factor in any regeneration scheme. 

This is the key question that needs to be asked - after the cement and the paint has dried, after the development / redevelopment / regeneration professionals have banked the cheque and moved on - have the various schemes made a real difference to our communities and our lives. 

I mean beyond any immediate physical improvements to the environment, have they made a real difference when it comes to wealth generation in the area affected by the regeneration scheme and can the people who live here actually see and benefit from the change? 

If the end result is in reality a makeover, and the targeted community is no better off, save for being bereft of the 'regeneration funds' that have been effectively hoovered up by professional regeneration companies - some of whom make a good living out of regeneration - then we should ask is this success? 

How do you make regeneration projects work beyond the tick box list of the regeneration schemes managers? 

One key component that is often ignored or marginalised during the regeneration process is the communities greatest resource - its people.

If we really want to develop strong sustainable communities, then any regeneration scheme should from the start and at every stage of the process involve the people who are going to live and work in the redeveloped area after the scheme has been completed. 

 

We don’t need regeneration professionals coming into an area and engaging in a largely token consultation process. They should directly talk to land listen to local people (who are an asset to the process) rather than at them, and actually find out what they would like to be done, what they actually want for their community and their town.

If you are reusing or renovating old buildings then any regeneration scheme needs to ensure that old buildings can make a sustainable contribution after the regeneration scheme is finished. 

If we do this rather than merely making a token gesture towards public consultation, then any regeneration schemes will, with hard work, really begin to deliver tangible benefits to our communities. 

Regeneration schemes and projects should be bottom up rather than the top down. 

The bottom line should be when spending public money, it needs to be worked extra hard and every single possible benefit should be squeezed out and we ned to maximise the impact locally of the regeneration process and make every effort to build in local benefits into the tendering process - whether by employing local people, using local resources, local skills and local input. 

Now a plea for a more people focused and community driven regeneration is not driven by nostalgia or about living the past - we have to re-image our urban spaces for the 21st century - but not at the expense of the people who live and make their living within them. 

 

As had been said elsewhere, regeneration should be a process rather than a cash extracting event, that delivers unmeasurable success. 

CAERLEON RAILWAY STATION

 

Interesting to note that the Labour in Wales controlled Newport City Council has finally backed the call for a railway station to be built serve Caerleon. this good news, Plaid Cymru in Newport has long called for a new railway station to serve Caerleon and Ponthir to be added to the original Burns Commission recommendations, which we are still waiting for,  as a matter of urgency.  

 

Many people in Newport, welcomed the commitment, a few years ago, to build new railway stations at Tredegar Park, Somerton, Llanwern, and Magor. But we need ground broken sooner rather than later to bring the new railway stations into being, to provide alternative means of getting around our city and elsewhere. 

The new stations are an absolute necessity, but people have serious concerns that no railway station was proposed to serve Caerleon / Ponthir has been included in the plans, as this would a real asset to both communities.

 

While the original absence may have showed an alarming lack of understanding of local transport issues, or to literal linear focus on the problems of the M4 or it could be simply a glaring oversight. In this case it would ensure that the residents of Caerleon / Ponthir have little choice but to drive to Newport, Cwmbran and beyond even to reach another railway station. 

The lack of a proposed railway station to serve the communities of Caerleon / Ponthir still needs to be revisited as a matter of urgency if the Labour in Wales government are actually serious about providing decent integrated public transport for all parts of Newport and cutting congestion on the M4 and around our city.

 

DIWEDD / ENDS

 

Plaid Cymru and the SE Wales Metro

 

Plaid Cymru in Newport and Monmouthshire has long called for the existing railway stations to be significantly upgraded as part of the process of creating a functioning South Wales metro.  Plaid broadly welcomed the report of the South East Wales Transport Commission which has recommend ways to reduce congestion on the M4 motorway without building a new relief road around Newport.  Plaid has called greater investment in public transport, with a much better integration and coordination of rail and bus networks and integrated ticketing across all services – with the emphasis that it is needed sooner rather than later. 

CAERLEON RAILWAY STATION

Some of us in Newport and Monmouthshire have long called for the existing railway stations in Newport and on the levels to be significantly upgraded as part of the process of creating a functioning South Wales metro.  

We need far greater investment in public transport, with a much better integration and coordination of rail and bus networks and integrated tickets across all services – with the emphasis on sooner rather than later.

The one thing missing from the recommendations of the Burns Commission which included recommendations for new stations at Tredegar Park, Somerton, Llanwern and Magor was any reference to a new railway station to serve Caerleon and Ponthir.

Our City needs ground broken sooner rather than later to bring the new railway stations into being, to provide alternative means of getting around our city and elsewhere, and improved connectivity to Cardiff, Bristol and beyond. 

The new stations are an absolute necessity, a railway station to serve Caerleon / Ponthir should have been included, as this would be a real asset to both communities.

The absence of a railway station to serve Caerleon and Ponthir shows an alarming if not acute lack of understanding of local transport issues, or at best a far to literal linear focus on the problems of the M4 or could have been simply a glaring oversight. 

In this case it’s absence ensures that the residents of Caerleon / Ponthir have little choice but to drive to Newport, Cwmbran and beyond even to reach another railway station. 

If the Labour in Wales government are serious about providing realistic and effective public transport for all parts of Newport and cutting congestion on the M4 and around our city then a railway station to serve Caerleon and Ponthir needs to be added to the consultation and the consultation needs be extended. 

THE NEED FOR GREENBELT

The rapid expansion in housing and commercial developments around our cities, small towns and villages across Cymru / Wales over the last 45 years. Many of these developments often have little provision for public transport or alternative ways for potential residents to get around beyond using their cars beyond unfulfilled and largely undelivered promises. 

What has also happened  is the rapid loss of green spaces in and around our urban and not so urban areas and a largely unthought out expansion of our urban centres.

One thing that country lacks, aside from a serious well though out integrated housing structure plan, and a modern planning system and a realistic vision or plan for strategically developing our housing for the future, is green belt. 

There is a clear need for formal legally protected green belt, around Cardiff (including the Northern meadows), Newport, Cwmbran and Caerphilly along with our small towns in Monmouthshire: Abergavenny, Chepstow and Monmouth and elsewhere in Cymru / Wales.

The failure to create Green belt across all of our country, to fringe our urban areas, to help focus out of town and fringe of town developments, and to protect green spaces around, between and within some of our urban areas, has had significant consequences when it comes to urban growth. 

Green belt, if respected is still a useful planning tool, originally introduced for London in 1938, it was rolled out to England as a whole by a government circular in 1955 but interestingly enough it was only enough never rolled out here in Cymru / Wales. The original concept was to allow local councils to designate green belts when they wanted to restrict, control or shape urban growth.  

The idea worked and it worked well, as by 2007, Green belt covered something like 13% of England (about one-and-a-half million hectares) despite the best efforts of previous Conservative, New Labour and Conservative–Liberal Democrat Governments it is still remains relatively well protected by normal planning controls against "inappropriate development".

It is worth noting that there is no designated green belt in Cymru / Wales - save for one patch of notional green belt (actually a Green wedge) that lies between Cardiff and Newport. Scotland has seven and Northern Ireland has thirty - each has its own policy guidance. 

This absence of green belt in Cymru / Wales explains much - it has certainly contributed to urban sprawl and significant out of town and edge of town development - something that has done little to help our communities, economically or socially especially over the last 30 years.

The preservation of green spaces aside, comes down to planning permission (and ultimately our planning process), which can be a touchy subject in itself, especially when a development (whether for commercial, housing or energy development) is controversial or the final decision is made against the wishes of local people. 

In Cymru / Wales we face the same problem across all of our country, be it around Wrecsam, Carmarthen, northern Cardiff, Swansea of any of our smaller towns and villages. 

More locally, a number of these housing developments, which have done (and threaten to do) some pretty serious damage to our environment have come without any necessary improvements in infrastructure e.g new railway stations with reasonably priced (or even free), adequate and secure park and ride facilities at Caerleon (closed as a result of the Beeching cuts in 1962, in the UDP since 1984) not to mention proposed stations at Llanwern, Magor, Somerton and Newport West.

In our south east, along the coastal belt and in and around Newport and Torfaen (not to mention around Cardiff and Caerphilly) and across Monmouthshire the last thirty years has seen a significant if not spectacular growth in the amount of housing, a significant percentage of which has never aimed to fulfil local housing needs. 

As a result the infrastructure along the coastal belt between Chepstow, Caldicot, Rogiet and Magor struggles to cope with existing developments and this is well before the projected expansion of housing on and around the former Llanwern site (where the proposed railway station was recently cancelled) really kicks in.

Northern Newport has been linked to the south Cwmbran - something that has brought little material benefit to the residents of either urban area but has contributed much to traffic congestion. Cwmbran has been linked to Sebastopol bringing scant real benefit to local residents. When the housing development is complete - just exactly how much of it will be affordable to local residents remains to be seen?

The removal of the Severn Bridge tolls resulted (as expected) in a bump in house prices as people living in and around Bristol moved to cash in on cheaper housing over here.  

This understandably impacted on both affordable and available housing, developers will no doubt pitch their developments accordingly to cash in on perceived higher wages in the Bristol area and perceived cheaper housing over here (and no doubt our local authorities will fall over themselves to accommodate the developers wishes regardless how local people feel).

The, then, National Assembly (now Senedd)  should have known better and acted accordingly, the institution when established was supposed to have sustainability enshrined in its actions, but, at times you really have to wonder, especially when it comes to the impact of some of the proposed developments on our communities, whether it does or not. 

We need to develop and protect our own green belt around and within our urban communities – because once developed (or overdeveloped) it’s gone for good. We need to bin the fundamentally flawed UDP process and make our local government structure fit for the 21st century rather than the 19th century and accommodate re realities of devolved government. 

It should be pretty clear by now to even the most dispassionate of observers that in Wales, we lack a coherent national strategic development plan for Wales judging by the half-baked way local unitary development plans have been put together over the years.

The problem caused by a lack of protection to our Green spaces is aggravated by the fact that while one generation of elected officials (and council officers) envisages as a green wedge, green lane, etc as a social necessity they are often seen by following generations of elected officials (and council officers) as either prime land for development or a nice little earner to help balance out the books.

This means that there is a real lack of stability and a lack of a sustainable long term vision for many of our urban areas and impacts on our quality of life. 

The Senedd needs to grow up and act like the Welsh Parliament it has become - it should take the long view and legislate to create and protect Green belt land with full legal and planning protections in Cymru/ Wales. 

This might go some way to calming things down when it comes to development planning and might introduce a more long-term sustainable democratic element into the process. 

This is something that could be accomplished by creating Welsh Green belt land, as part of the process we also need an urgent and open debate into the planning process in Wales - something that has been long overdue.

Successive Westminster government’s (in England) talked about getting planning officers "off people's backs" with a relaxation of planning rules. When they talked about ‘people’ they meant developers. 

So far, as a result of the pandemic, the post Brexit Westminster ministers have yet to take the much trumpeted and much promised axe to red tape and planning rules (in England) in an attempt to boost house building and revive the economy.

Not wanting to be left out (and also perhaps bereft of any fresh ideas), a few years ago Carwyn’s Labour in Wales Government in Cardiff also pursued major changes to planning rules in Wales aiming to ‘tilt the balance in favour of economic growth over the environment and social factors’. 

That decision was in my opinion aimed quite specifically at overturning those few occasions when our Local Authorities have rejected developments (often at the behest of local residents) rather than putting economic needs ahead of economic and environmental benefits and will do little for sustainable, flood free development to deal with local housing needs let alone preserve our green spaces. 

It explains much of the housing overdevelopment in various parts of our country and it does not deliver for our hard pressed communities or our country. 

We need to look at championing the development of new homes in small-scale housing developments in both rural and urban Wales on ‘exception sites’, where land plots, not covered by general planning permission, will be capped at an affordable price designed to benefit those in local housing need with family and work ties to the area, and whose sale will be conditional on these houses continuing in local ownership in perpetuity. 

What’s left of our social housing stock that remains under the control of the housing associations needs to remain intact in order to meet the demand for homes. 

Along with developing social housing stock there is a need to introduce a more rigorous system in the allocation of social housing to give priority to those in local housing need.

Part of the problem is that our planning system, along with our almost nineteenth century local government setup is not designed to coexist with devolution or for that matter to deliver planning decisions with real and lasting benefits for local people and local communities. 

There is a real need for root and branch reform and reorganisation of our planning system; something the Welsh Government has failed to deliver with tinkering and tweaks to existing out-dated legislation rather than and real reform.

Our current planning system remains far too focused on railroading through large housing / commercial developments, that often bring little real benefits for local people and local communities and often fail to resolve real and pressing local housing needs. 

We need a fundamental change in planning culture to encourage appropriate and sustainable smaller scale housing developments, which are based on good design and actively promote energy efficiency and good environmental standards and that puts our communities first. 

Now this is something we are never going to get from a Labour in Wales government, in Cardiff, or a Labour in Westminster government at the other end of the M4. It’s time to change the way that our communities are run and to make the aims and objectives of Welsh government’s more responsive to our communities, and our country’s needs and concerns, rather than the needs and concerns of the Labour Party.