Hot Seat
PLAID Cymru pressure has delivered success with the inclusion of the Gwendraeth and Amman Valleys in the Welsh Government’s Valleys taskforce area.
In March this year Plaid Cymru warned that the rug was being pulled from underneath the Amman and Gwendraeth economy because of the refusal of the Welsh Government to include the communities as part of the Valleys Taskforce.
In 2016 the Welsh Government’s Taskforce identified strategic locations across Valleys communities in order to create jobs, but didn’t include communities west of Neath.
Earlier this year the Deputy Minister for the Economy confirmed the Welsh Government had “no plans” to extend the Valleys Taskforce boundary to include Amman/ Gwendraeth.
Plaid Cymru made the case that Valleys communities do not stop at Neath; and now the campaign has delivered a successful outcome.
A strategic hub for the Amman and Gwendraeth Valleys won’t solve all of our problems, but it will be a catalyst for focused investment with exciting plans drawn up by both the Plaid Cymru-led county council and party leader Adam Price to boost our local economy, which includes the reopening of the Amman Valley railway as a passenger line as part of the Swansea Bay and Western Valleys Metro.
We have delivered this result in opposition; imagine what we could do for communities across the Llanelli constituency if we had a Plaid Cymru Welsh Government.
I continue to press for solutions to the congestion on Sandy Road. I’ve asked the Welsh Government about discussions they’ve had about the issue.
Follow me on twitter https :// twitter. com/ helenmarycymru or www. facebook.com/HelenMaryJonesPlaid or email me: Helen Mary. Jones@ assembly.wales