GETTING WALES MOVING

We need to improve rail services across Wales, planning to integrate bus and rail timetables and introduce new light rail networks, combined with active travel proposals, to keep Wales moving. Plaid Cymru has put forward a realisticvision of the future of Wales’ transport infrastructure, which includes investing in new light rail networks, community rail and safe walking and cycling routes. We also need to ensure that our public transport networks are fully integrated, so that it is as easy as possible for people to use it in their daily lives.

Lets be honest about the fact that when it comes down the revitalising of our railways (a vital part of our transport infrastructure) Wales comes of second best in comparison with Scotland and parts of England. Part of the reason comes down to the poor devolutionary settlement which failed to give Wales adequate powers in relation to infrastructure developments and part of it relates to a simple lack of will on the part of the recent Labour in Wales Government in Cardiff.  

A strong transport network is obviously particularly important in rural communities, which is why Plaid Cymru wants to create a fully integrated public transport network. It is worth noting that back February 2006,The Transport (Wales) Act, which came into effect, this gave the National Assembly powers to plan and co-ordinate an integrated transport system.

How much longer do we have to wait to see some real vision and action rather than words? In the absence of any real leadership from Cardiff Bay and Westminster the rail companies have continued to ramp up rail fares, attempting to reduce rail services, all with the tacit co-operation of successive Westminster Government's (regardless of their political hue) and the Department for transport (in London). 

Such duplicity has never been acceptable - it’s time for our government in Cardiff to take the long term view, to bite the bullet and actually put its money where its mouth is and work to redevelop our rail services, boost the development of rail freight and to co-ordinate rail and bus services across the whole of Wales. To do this effectively Wales needs to have full control of it's transport policy and transport budget devolved as quickly as possible and the franchise when it is renewed in 2017 needs to be run on a not for profit basis. 

The Party of Wales supports public ownership over the railway and we will continue to seek unrestricted control over awarding future rail franchises. When Plaid Cymru was in government we made investing in infrastructure a priority, and Wales continues to feel the benefit of this investment. We are ready to continue with this project, and invest in rail, road and digital infrastructure right across Wales.

In Monmouth constituency we need to ensure that our railway stations have more frequent stopping services and have safe, secure and reasonably priced park and ride facilities at Abergavenny, Severn Tunnel and Chepstow. New railway stations at Llanwern and Magor and at Caerleon / Ponthir would do much to cut congestion.

Our bus services need to be fully integrated with our rail services and our railway stations should be fully accessible with easy access to services for all passengers. The National Assembly should commit to redevelop and expand our rail services, as has happened in Scotland and some parts of England. Personally I would work for feasibility studies into a new station near Little Mill / Penperlleni and into the reopening of the line to Usk and the construction of a new station west of the town.

BETTER LATE? OR BETTER NEVER?

The news that the Severn bridges will now accept payments via debit and credit cards before the Ryder Cup is welcome news, even if it is only a temporary measure until a more permanent solution is found. Whatever the nature or duration of this quick fix the problem of the tolls on the Severn bridges remains ongoing - basically they can be considered as a tax on jobs, a tax on commuters and tax on anyone or any organisation that does business back and forth across the bridges.

The news that the Welsh affairs committee is in October set to examine the future of the bridges after the crossings have reverted to public ownership should also be welcomed. At the moment the concessions are operated by a private company, the Severn Bridge will return to government ownership when the firm has collected a fixed sum of money from tolls.

The committee plans to look at how tolls on the bridges affect the Welsh economy, the amount of cash that is spent on maintaining the bridges, their future when they return to public ownership and at the level of the tolls, payment methods, the impact of the tolls on tourism and the condition of the bridges.

It's good to see that some of our local New Labour MPs are fully behind this enquiry, which is what you would expect - Jessica Morden, MP for Newport East (and a member of the committee) has welcomed the move (in June of this year), saying that the tolls could be lowered for people living in the surrounding area: “Like the Dartford crossing I can't see why you shouldn't be able to get a concession for those within a certain postcode area.”

Now this is all well and good and very welcome but a tad late, as lest we forget, that New or Unreconstructed Old Labour (under Tony Blair and then Gordon 'Houdini' Brown) were firmly in power (with significant majorities) from 1997 until 2010 so why did they not do something about the Severn bridge tolls then when they had the opportunity?

It's also worth remembering that the private company that operates the Severn Toll Bridges has raised almost £226m over the past three years – yet has spent barely £15m on essential maintenance on the original crossing's damaged cables - which suggests that the bridge tolls are being used as little more than a cash cow, should not come as much of a surprise to many people.

This little gem was extracted by Plaid Cymru's South Wales Central AM Chris Franks, who obtained the figures (in June 2010) under the Freedom of Information Act. The FOI request showed a significant difference between the large amounts of money raised by Severn River Crossing PLC from the toll, and the relatively small amount being spent on treating the damage to the cables on the old crossing.

The Highways Agency suggested that another £5.8m worth of maintenance will take place over the next five years. This despite the fact that some £225,733,000 has been collected in bridge toll revenue since 2006. People may well begin to wonder if they are going to get saddled with major work to maintain the bridges after the toll profits have been siphoned off by the concessionary company when the bridges are finally returned to public ownership in 2014 or 2016.

Even when you looking beyond the immediate teeth grinding impact of yet another annual increase in the Severn bridge tolls (which we will all face in January 2011) there is another issue – one that is beginning to become worth considering, what's going to happen in 2014 (or 2016) when it has been estimated that the PFI contract will have been covered by toll receipts.

Who actually is going to own the bridge (or bridges) and will they stop collecting the tolls? If not then the bridge (or bridges) which sit on the border - with the toll on the newer bridge being collected in Wales, and the older one being collected in England - will the bridge and the tolls simply revert back to the Department of Transport?

Or if perchance the whole package ends with the National Assembly, by default, then if the current tolls were halved then, what could be accomplished by using a percentage to cover maintenance of the bridge and using the remainder of the toll for ring fenced capital projects – such as new integrated transport systems, reopening railway lines, funding tram systems and investing in rail freight – which would be far more beneficial for all of us in Wales than the finance disappearing into the Westminster coffers or to bail out the bankers?

Something else that is worth noting that in October 2009, Sadiq Khan, the then New Labour Minister of Transport, announced a grant of £6m to the Humber Bridge company, saying that, “the Government was committed to doing everything it can to protect communities and businesses from economic downturn and help the country to recover. That is why I decided not to accept the Humber Bridge board's proposed toll increases” if that's the case in England, then why not in Wales?