Comment
It was good to see that Mark Hooper, Deputy Transport Minister met with Lord Burns this week to discuss issues around the M4 in Newport and potential transport improvements.
It remains to be seen what will happen. Will it be another case of delay and a demonstrable lack of urgency.
The Burns Recommendation number 58 in total but any rational analysis of them would indicate most are at the proposal stage rather than delivery. Six new railway stations are proposed but when and if will they be delivered? See our review here.
The fateful decision, not to build the M4 relief road, was made in June 2019. In the seven year that elapsed there has been an inquiry, findings etc. but no tangible improvement to transport infrastructure in the most congested area of Wales.
This lack of urgency / complacency is symptomatic of the long road to recovery for Newport as a City. It seems the Welsh Government would rather bypass the City than take decisions that benefit residents.
In fact, you could say there are several recent instances of Newport being downgraded or ignored. The decision to allow the merger of University of Wales Newport and the University of South Wales has been incredibly detrimental to the City. The merger omitted Cardiff Met at the time and has led to the downgrading of Newport as a location for students. The numbers of students have fallen from 9,000 to less than 1,500, with most of them located in Cardiff. Promised investment has not taken place and a historic institution has effectively disappeared.
The decision to deliver a Cardiff-Ebbw Vale rail link completely bypassing Newport is another classic example. The Welsh Government quickly delivered new stations at Pye Corner and Rogerstone as part of the new service both within City boundaries but not serving Newport City Centre. Bus services to Newport were reduced as western valley residents and workers were conveyed to Cardiff, impacting Newport’s day and night economy. It took a lengthy campaign to get the necessary work done and a Newport-Ebbw service restored but it was too late as the damage inflicted had already been done.
These are political decisions that have consequences like the decision to focus all HMRC operations in Cardiff city centre with the closure of the tax office building in Newport, now being converted into housing.
It is not only decisions that are affecting Newport’s long road to recovery, it is delays. The Knowledge Quarter was announced in 2016. Despite recent confirmation that Coleg Gwent will still be coming to the City Centre what is happening? The facility and the students would provide a huge boost to the City Centre but everything is still at the proposal stage. The relocation of the Nash campus and redevelopment of Lliswerry High School would provide a great opportunity for housing in the east of the City.
There are other frustrating delays out of the hands of politicians. The former Sainsbury’s site, the cabbage patch area of Rodney Parade, prime spots with huge development potential but nothing happening. See our vision for the latter here.
There are many positive things being delivered including the new leisure centre , the development of an independent retail in the city centre and the increasing prominence of Newport’s semi conductor sector providing much needed high quality jobs. But decisions made in Cardiff continue to have a marked impact on the quality of life for Newport residents and will continue to inhibit the ability of the City to develop and its centre to thrive. We need to see more urgency and less complacency.