Improving Bridgend's business potential

One of the main challenges facing, Bridgend, is improving the business infrastructure to help local businesses flourish and grow.

With this in mind, I was slightly disappointed that the UK Government has announced that the electrification of the Swansea to Paddington line will end at Cardiff, missing out Bridgend completely. The people of Bridgend will miss out on quicker, cleaner and quieter transport, while local businesses will also lose out.

Plaid have been proactive in developing an approach to adapting a 21st century business infrastructure for Wales including better mobile, broadband and free Wi-Fi as well as a modern transport system to move Wales forward. Our technological improvements include linking every business and home to fast broadband and creating Wi-Fi hotspots across the country.

Implementing broadband lines will enable speeds of 100 Mbs, which will help make Wales a truly wireless nation, giving Welsh businesses the tools to be competitive. Plaid also has plans to improve mobile reception and to electrify many of our rail lines. Improving Broadband is fundamentally essential in developing the Welsh knowledge economy, which involves economists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, chemists and physicists and any other information based service. Our plans will ensure businesses and individuals can network and innovate.

Bridgend’s geographic location nestling between both Wales’s two major cities, Swansea and Cardiff, often means that businesses overlook Bridgend to favour locating their businesses to areas that have a more advanced infrastructure. However, our plans will open up new opportunities and will make more Welsh communities appealing to businesses. We also have plans to establish a voluntary scheme called Wi-Fi Wales, where social areas such as train stations, pubs, cafes and libraries will sign up to providing Wi-Fi for the community. In a relatively densely populated area like Bridgend, this could allow many businesses and individuals to benefit.

Mobile phone reception has also been identified as a problem. A Plaid Government would lend money to local community groups in order to give them the power to tackle mobile phone signal problems. This has already been a major success in Ceredigion, which is home to the university town, Aberystwyth. A local community not for profit group has received a £164,542 grant to pay for a signal mast, which will benefit 1,500 people. This is an exciting opportunity, which I hope can be put to use in Bridgend and Porthcawl.

With a local train station and nearby motorway, which connects the people of Bridgend to Cardiff, London and to the west, Swansea, Bridgend is already well equipped to support business’s transport needs. We will improve this experience with a new stock of trains and buses that will include free Wi-Fi making commuting in and out of Bridgend an enjoyable experience.

No to Team GB

Those who know me well know that I am passionate about sport. I am delighted that Bridgend Ravens have made such a positive undefeated start to the league, and making their claim to the Principality Premiership increasingly strong.

Although a lover of rugby, as an Ambassador season ticket holder and regular away follower of Cardiff City, my main allegiance lies with the round ball. In one of the most competitively thought battles for automatic promotion, both rivals Cardiff City and Swansea City are still in the hunt for an automatic spot to the Premiership Promised Land. Unlike the Ravens, however, there are a pack of teams as far down as sixteenth in the league with similar realistic ambitions. In this battle for Premiership football, one thing that unites many Cardiff and Swansea fans is opposition against a Team GB playing in the London 2012 Olympics.

Lord Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic games, has been putting significant pressure on the four football associations, which includes the FAW, to field a unified Great Britain team for the Olympics. Like many football fans across Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, I am concerned that a Team GB would end the independence of the said football associations.

Some people have pointed out that the British Lions rugby team have not had any effect on national sides. However, I think this fails to recognise the difference between rugby and football. Notwithstanding the fact that football is a more globalised game with a number of highly competitive teams across Europe, Six Nations games between Wales, Scotland, England and Ireland play an integral part in the rugby calendar. Thus, making any suggestion of the Lions jeopardising Wales’ independence insurmountable.

In addition, FIFA President, Slepp Blatter has said he would welcome a Team GB. He has even said that the individual representation of the Home Nations on the international FA board, which entitles special voting privileges, has caused resentment and was the main reason for England’s failed bid for holding the 2018 World Cup.

I remember the delirium from a packed Millennium Stadium when Simon Davies and Craig Bellamy stunned the famous Azzurri into a 2-1 defeat. Alternatively, I remember the sheer disbelief when Paul Bodin missed a penalty against Romania to end Welsh hopes of World Cup qualification.

What ever your memories of the Welsh national side, and even though their fortunes have not surpassed expectation, the independence of the FAW is worth fighting for and I hope you will join me in condemning a Team GB football team.

Fuel price madness

After a busy day canvassing, I decided to visit some friends and purchased some diesel in a service station just outside the Bridgend constituency. The price? A ridiculous £1.39 a litre.

This should be enough to get even the most car dependent family to consider rail use. However, Arriva Trains Wales have significantly increased their prices well above the rate of inflation. The ConDem coalition have increased the cost of season tickets across the UK by almost 6% (so much for David Cameron’s green credentials), but even more alarmingly, Arriva Trains Wales have increased rail travel in Bridgend by almost 10%

A season ticket for use between Bridgend and Cardiff has increased from £732 to £804, while the cost of a day ticket from Bridgend to Cardiff will increase from £5.40 to £5.90. Meanwhile, passengers have not seen any improvements to the quality of the service.

This is why I believe Plaid Cymru’s proposal to put the management of Welsh railways in the hands of a ‘not for profit’ company following the end of the ATW franchise would be extremely desirable to passengers and the Welsh economy.

Instead of extended profits for ATW, more money could be made available to invest in rail travel across Wales with additional services linking Bridgend with the nearby Valleys and major cities.

While this may reduce car dependency, some isolated communities in Wales, will always depend on the car. For some, fuel is a price elastic commodity. No matter what the cost in fuel duty, some people will reluctantly pay the cost.

With the UK governments increase in fuel duty and VAT, I am strongly in favour of a fuel regulator. This would ensure the price at the pump would reflect the fluctuation in crude oil. In essence, when the price of oil increases or the level of VAT increases, the level of fuel tax would decrease.