INVESTING IN OUR INFRASTRUCTURE

A Plaid Cymru government will embark upon the biggest programme of reconstruction our nation has seen since devolution. We will establish a new body, the National Infrastructure Commission Wales, (NICW), an independent public corporation that will be responsible for planning, funding and delivering the aspirations set out in the National Infrastructure Investment Plan.

NICW will develop as a centre of specialist knowledge in the procurement and project management of major infrastructure projects to achieve best value for money while maximizing opportunities for Welsh firms in partnership with the National Procurement Service together with sector-specific non-profit distributing organisations.

Projects in transport, for example, will involve substantial investment in new rolling stock, creating new economic opportunities for local manufacturers for innovation and collaboration. Similarly in energy generation we will seek to maximise the proportion of the new technology that is manufactured in Wales. In housing we will support the manufacture of public rental housing in German-style house factories.

NICW will seek to arrange for the funding of these projects in a variety of different ways, including from the European Investment Bank and other European institutions, UK sources like the Green Investment bank and Infrastructure UK, working with local authorities, pension funds and other institutional investors and using long term leasing arrangements to raise funds independently of the UK Government’s balance sheet, enabling it to borrow additional funding at historically low interest rates to invest in vital Welsh infrastructure projects, creating jobs in the Welsh economy.

Investing using these sources of finance, together with those of the Welsh Government will enable us to double the current capital investment totals with an additional £1.5 billion of investment per year. The borrowing would be for long periods (e.g. 25 years) and we anticipate that the debt service ratio would be some 2.2% after five years at the end of the first Senedd term, and it is not intended that the debt service for all outstanding debt would rise above 4.5% under a long term rolling investment programme.

Our broad priorities for investment, beyond those contained in current spending plans, would include:

• housing where it would be possible for an additional 10,000 homes to be built beyond current targets, for local and affordable housing needs throughout Wales

• a comprehensive programme to improve the energy efficiency of housing in Wales with a sustained programme over the next twenty years o creating a network of local energy grids for Wales. 

• creating the south-east Metro as well as a similar Metro-style network for both north Wales and Swansea and the western valleys 

• creating a national rail link from north to south along the west Wales coast.

The Party of Wales will also expand capital investment in health to include investing in new NHS medical care homes and patient hotels, plus modern residential care facilities to be leased by local SMEs and social enterprises and education, with universal upgrading of existing facilities, new school-community hubs, together with the development of new Welsh medium schools and 3-14 and 3-19 through-schools where there is local demand.

A SOUTH EAST WALES METRO

Time to get SE Wales moving...

In Monmouth constituency and across the south east 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, Magor and at Caerleon would do much to cut congestion and boost connectivity within a SE Wales Metro. 

Our bus services should 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. Personally I would work for feasibility studies into opening 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. 

Research by the IMF in 2015 calculated that for every £1 spent on infrastructure some £3’s worth of additional economic activity is created. Wales needs investment, job creation and improvements in its infrastructure; such investment could yield real meaningful and lasting benefits for our people and our communities. The more job creation we can stimulate and the better improvements to our infrastructure, then the better the long-term prospects will be for the Welsh economy.

SHORT SIGHTED EUROSTAR SELL OFF

The news that the UK Government plans to sell its stake in Eurostar should not surprise anyone. The records of various Westminster Governments since 1979 when it comes to selling off of state assets leave a great deal to be desired. A few year ago Royal Mail was privatised on the cheap and the public have been left short-changed. It has to be unacceptable that state assets, particularly those which are so vital to infrastructure are being auctioned by a Westminster government that is simply ideologically opposed to state ownership.

This proposal reflects the lop-sided nature of UK economic policy. Increasingly desperate attempts by Westminster governments to balance the books have been based on painful austerity rather than investment and growth. Now they are desperately attempting to fill the hole in public finances by selling-off important assets. This is a short-sighted attempt to make a fast buck at the expense of the future of the UK’s infrastructure and economic prospects.

This process may well end with ‘external nationalisation’ where former UK state assets are owned by foreign governments who pursue their own interests, at our expense leaving UK citizens powerless. There has to be a wider discussion on this particular proposal with the devolved bodies in Wales and Scotland. The Eurostar is an international link, particularly important to our joint participation in the EU and the single market. Businesses here in Wales will be affected in the long-term by the decision to sell-off and there will undoubtedly be an impact on our economy in Wales.

MEANWHILE OVER THE BRIDGE...

Interestingly enough, while Labour has problems with devolution in Wales, it is beginning to look like this is not the case over the bridge. In England, Labour has promised English cities more powers over transport, housing and employment to help close the "productivity gap" with London. If elected at the next Westminster General election, the Labour Party has pledged to hand £20 billion pounds to councils to spend on skills, back-to-work schemes and infrastructure, so says current Labour leader Ed Miliband. Ed has suggested that the Con Dem government has missed opportunities to give English towns and cities the economic levers they needed to generate new jobs. This announcement followed a review by the former Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, a future Labour government would invite every local authority, local enterprise partnership and university (in England) to work together in partnership with local businesses to bid for resources. Apparently the doubling of existing devolved funding would amount to the "biggest devolution of powers to towns and cities in a hundred years." Perhaps the party formerly known as New Labour is finally beginning to speak for England. 

AFTER THE STORM IS OVER...

The Welsh and Westminster Governments need to make rational long term sustainable choices when it comes to flood defence. We in Wales need to develop a comprehensive planning system for our country that hardens our communities and infrastructure against the effects of severe weather events.   We need to focus on flood prevention and develop flood preventative schemes rather than end up clearing up after the flood is over again and again.

This winter is proving to be hard one when it comes to sea and riverine flooding, the persistent bad weather has meant that some of our communities have had some pretty close calls and other communities have been inundated. There can be no blank cheque for flood defences so we need to make rational cost effective sustainable choices when it comes to flood defence whether for coastal or riverine flooding on the Gwent levels or the Wye, Usk or Monnow valleys. 

The debate taking place around flooding needs to focus on re-engineering the whole water system in Wales to ensure that water is retained in the uplands to prevent downstream flooding. Here in Wales, those agencies responsible for our environment need to take the lead and work to ensure that potential flood waters are retained our uplands for longer and flood prevention avoidance schemes are comprehensively built into our planning system.

Where possible we should avoid building in those areas that are particularly vulnerable to flooding or at least when building to take into account the possibilities of flooding. If we are going to build on flood plains or other areas that are vulnerable to flooding then we must use flood resistant or at the very least flood hardened modern intelligent design techniques to limit potential damage, loss and inconvenience as are used elsewhere.

Here in Wales there is a good example of what is possible, as one of the largest flood preventive scheme is being developed in Llanelli.  Welsh Water, a not-for-profit company, has developed the scheme because the town's sewerage system repeatedly flooded homes and polluted the River Lliedi. The scheme involves digging up stretches of tarmac and paving to create catchment pits for storm water, diverting water into the pits from gutters and then putting grass and plants on top of the pits.

This means that water is held in the soil and slowly seeps away or evaporates. The ideas have been praised by the water regulator Ofwat. If these ideas are built into the planning process then we may help to reduce runoff and flooding. Who knows, perhaps the major supermarkets will demonstrate their much trumpeted claims over social responsibility by breaking up their car parks and installing porous surfaces to catch runoff – personally I won’t hold my breath.

The Llanelli scheme is a good example of what is possible, but, we also need to work to ensure that our power network and our communities are hardened to the effects of severe weather events. Those coastal roads and railways that have been damaged by the recent combination of bad weather and high tides will be eventually repaired.

None of this is new, after the bad floods of 2007, which saw the loss of thirteen  lives and much devastation, the then Labour Government commissioned Sir Michael Pitt to undertake a thorough review of the UK's flood defences. The full report, which is now published, makes interesting reading and  contains 92 proposals need to be implemented if communities are to be better protected. It is a pity that the recommendations were not fully implemented.

We also need to take a longer sustainable view and seriously consider the possibilities of building railway lines, roads and key infrastructure projects away from those areas that are and may become more susceptible to flooding. In England recent changes in planning law oblige all new developments to catch water from their own site and prevent it adding to floods, although the full implementation of the law has been delayed by what critics claim is disarray as the government is under pressure from housing industry lobbyists.

The retention of water in upland areas is by cramming gorse into streams from peat bogs, blocking young rivers with fallen trees and creating low-level earth dams to contain water so it soaks into the soil. There has even been talk of changing policies to incentivise farmers to re-forest upland areas to catch water and stop soil running off into streams. Some (in including the World Wildlife Fund) think farmers should be obliged to change the way they farm in order to obtain their grants from taxpayers.

Trying to retrofit the decade’s long legacy of flood-inducing buildings in our communities, our towns and cities will be costly and challenging.  The legacy of building on flood plains (and on potentially vulnerable the Gwent levels (aside from people’s homes and businesses which has been estimated to contain £3 billion pounds worth of infrastructure) will be more difficult to fix in the short term, but, not perhaps as expense as repeatedly clearing up the chaos, misery and destruction that follows every flood.