Adam Price

Adam has today echoed the disappointment noted by Carmarthenshire County Council with regard to the Feasibility Study into the development of the Swansea Bay and Western Valleys Metro.

The Feasibility Study was commissioned as a result of a budget agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Government in 2017, but has yet to be published and put into the public domain. Carmarthenshire County Council has previously called for this development to include the Amman Valley and other Carmarthenshire Communities.

This issue was once again raised in a Council meeting on the 8th of July, in relation to recent calls for a modern, environmentally-friendly passenger railway in the Amman Valley area.

Glanaman Cllr Dai Jenkins stated: “We were delighted in 2017 that Plaid Cymru had secured a feasibility study into the development of the Metro and that the Welsh Government were finally realising the importance of developing public transport in South West Wales.

Mr Price said: “I completely understand the frustrations of the County Council here in Carmarthenshire, and I share the disappointment they feel on this critical issue. The expansion of modernised transport options into Carmarthenshire would enable such a large increase in social mobility, would encourage more use of public transport and would likely result in less cars on the roads.

While I understand that in recent months the pandemic crisis has formed the large bulk of government work, this was agreed in 2017. My colleagues in the Senedd and I have been asking in the Chamber for this study to be published as recently as February this year, and we are growing increasingly frustrated.”