A fresh voice for Llanelli

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Don't forget the wiring

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The Wales Transport Strategy published in 2021 put modal shift at the heart of our policies. For the first time, we’ve set a target on increasing the number of trips made by sustainable modes of transport from 32% to 45% by 2040. Grand declarations are important to signal system change. However, as we've seen in the past, transport strategies often say all the right things in the narrative but the delivery mechanisms are programmed to deliver business-as-usual. In spite of the new targets the bible for highway engineers, the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges , still prioritises traffic flow; the bible for economists and finance officials, the UK Treasury Green Book, still insists on monetising notional journey time savings when it comes to transport investments; rather than reduce speeds to save lives, orthodoxy suggests we upgrade highway design to increase capacity and allow faster speeds under the guise of road safety.  Unless the system wiring is reconfigured to delive...
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Where there’s a will, there’s a way - Gwersi o Gymru

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As a background note to my keynote address to AITPM National Transport Conference and Speaker Tour in August 2024 I have set out some of the key themes for the reforms that have been carried out in Wales that I had a role in developing as a Minister in the Welsh Government Transport Department, 2019 - 2024. I hope to add to this as I reflect on the conversations I have on my visits to meet policy makers and professional in Perth, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne. I'd really value any comments or challenge you have to any of the chapters. My thoughts are structured around the following themes (click to open each): 1 INTRODUCTION - Lessons from Wales 2 START AS YOU MEAN TO GO ON 3 SAYING ALL THE RIGHT THINGS 4 …DOING THE RIGHT THINGS 5 DON'T FORGET THE HIDDEN WIRING 6 REWIRE
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How to be Popular? A wicked Welsh issue indeed

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How do you respond to populism? How can a Government of the left combine an ongoing sense of insurgency with the reality of making the compromises necessary with being in power? Wales offers something of a case-study in these universal dilemmas. The Labour Party has been the dominant party for 102 years, and for the last 26 years has been the main party of Government in our devolved parliament. Next year there will be elections under a newer more proportional system and for the first time Welsh Labour’s position as the largest party is being seriously questioned, and polls sugges t that we are within the margin of error of coming third.  The Reform Party has the wind in their sails. It seems to matter not a jot that they don’t have a policy platform, an organisational network, or any local leadership.  And this is not a uniquely Welsh phenomenon. As the FT set out in a series of end-of-year charts the trend across the developed world in 2024 was for incumbent governments to be...
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