South Wales Central Conservative MS Andrew RT Davies has called on Senedd ministers to fulfil a promise to deliver improved rail services on the Vale of Glamorgan Line.
Speaking in the Senedd, Mr Davies challenged the First Minister, Eluned Morgan, on the failure to increase the frequency of services.
He pointed to the village of St Athan, where two sites for housing development are proposed within the Vale of Glamorgan Replacement Local Development Plan.
Despite sitting on the Vale of Glamorgan Line, neither Senedd ministers nor the new Labour government have progressed plans for a station in the village.
The previous Conservative government announced funding to allow for a business case for the project to be developed.
Mr Davies, who opposes the proposed housing developments in St Athan, said it was “unsustainable” to impose them with a faint promise of potential infrastructure improvements down the line.
Mr Davies said:
The Vale of Glamorgan needs more trains. We also need more stations.
Capacity still has not increased on the line between Cardiff, Barry and Bridgend. A much needed new station at St Athan has not progressed.
Senedd ministers talk of opportunities brought by housebuilding, but this is unsustainable.
Arbitrary housing targets imposed on our communities by Plaid Cymru separatists and Labour are responsible for the pressures we face.
The Vale’s Replacement Local Development Plan contains many inappropriate sites, including two in St Athan.
But the village does not need inappropriate housing developments. It needs better transport links.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Please find below the Senedd’s record of proceedings from Tuesday 3 March.
Andrew R.T. Davies
14:13:42
As someone who supports the north-west corridor and visited the proposals many years ago, that would be a welcome addition to the jigsaw that is the transport options that are available to people in the north of my region.
But the south of my region, in the Vale of Glamorgan, has fared very poorly, (1) with increased train capacity on the Vale of Glamorgan line, which has been promised for at least the last five years and still hasn’t materialised, and (2) the lack of forward planning to build a railway station in the village of St Athan. This is an area that successive LDPs have identified for large-scale housing development, and indeed all across that roadway that leads on to Bridgend, there are significant new developments that need that extra capacity on the Vale of Glamorgan line, and in particular the new station at St Athan. Can you tell me why the Welsh Government has a blind spot when it comes to investing in the Vale of Glamorgan and the Bridgend line?
Eluned Morgan
14:14:36
The region, let me assure you, is working on this issue. Cardiff capital region is making sure that they work together. We need to make sure that there are opportunities for everybody to get around our country. There are opportunities for expansion when it comes to building new homes. This opens up economic opportunities, but we don’t want to see miles and miles of traffic on our roads. We have to make sure the infrastructure is there, and that’s why that £14 billion over 15 years is absolutely crucial.
The key thing now is we can plan. We can plan for the future. You can’t switch these things on overnight. You need to go through planning permission. You need to make sure that there are no environmental issues associated with it. You need to make sure you’ve got the skills available in the community to deliver the projects. So, that’s why we’re having that long-term plan, working with the Cardiff capital region, to ensure that there is a future for rail in that part of the world.
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