'Totally nauseating for the majority of people in Wales' Cardiff tram plan sparks criticism
'Totally nauseating for the majority of people in Wales' Cardiff tram plan sparks criticism
"When are they ever going to spend money in other parts of Wales that are falling apart?'
Trams are seen as a more sustainable form of transport
(Image: The Urbanists )
Wales Online readers are somewhat sceptical about plans for Cardiff to welcome its first trams in decades and the opening of a new railway station off Newport Road. The city council has unveiled five images depicting the initial phase of Cardiff's new tram system, which is slated to open in 2028.
The Welsh and UK governments have agreed to fund the £100m first phase of the project, dubbed Cardiff Crossrail, which will see tram-trains running from Central station down to the Bay.
The plans involve some traffic re-routing around Callaghan Square, which is the path the trams will take from the central station down to the Bay. The hope is to construct a short piece of linking track that would allow tram trains to continue onto the existing rail network, enabling services to run further afield.
However, these long-term visions hinge on future funding, which is not believed to be included in the Chancellor's £445m spending commitment announced in last week's spending review. The Chancellor's announcement did include funding for a junction at Cardiff west, which is crucial to the future plans by allowing an increase in the number of services able to run on the City and Coryton lines to four an hour.
The aim is for the first phase of the new tram link, running from Cardiff Central Station to Cardiff Bay, to be operational by the summer of 2028.
Dan Tipper, Chief Infrastructure Officer at Transport for Wales, expressed his hopes for the new tramway: "Our ambition is that the new tramway will contribute towards a more sustainable transport network for Cardiff, which will encourage more people to leave their cars at home and instead choose more sustainable ways to travel."
Article continues below
Commenter TaffintheRaf says: 'In China, once a project has been given the go ahead, the applicants have a maximum of 5 years to complete the work otherwise there are huge penalties. Surely, since the money has been allocated, the whole project can be finished in 5 years?'
StevenBoyd is not convinced: 'It took nine years to build a bus station which is totally unsuitable and requires a half mile walk if connecting with a coach.'
Taf1956 agrees: '"Will" will soon change to "probably won't" as the planning process drags on for a decade or so, at great expense of course. With loads of money going to "consultants" before the whole idea is shelved.'
IronPaws writes: 'This will just be serving empty office buildings. When are they ever going to spend money in other parts of Wales that are falling apart?'
Jackambition agrees: 'Any chance we could have a tram from Swansea Marina to Mumbles to replace the Mumbles train or does Wales finish in Cardiff?'
Littlenell adds: 'Can we have the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth line re-instated please, as the good people of Cardiff can probably walk or cycle the length of the tram line?'
Ilco feels it is: 'Totally nauseating for the majority of people in Wales whose transport services are so bad that they could not get anywhere close to Cardiff without a car.'
Barrian asks: 'Why not just buy loads of buses which can go anywhere in Wales (and beyond)? All this money just so the AMs don't have to walk a couple of hundred metres from Cardiff Bay station.'
Davebuses agrees: 'The 'ambition' is to extend from Bute Street to Pierhead Street - a five minute walk. Surely up Saint Mary Street to the castle would be far more useful?'
Scarsdaleblue wonders: 'Are the roads wide enough to cope with cars, bike lanes and trams?'
Bobbythegunner replies: 'Cars will be banned. It's the next step. Have you not seen the thin end of the wedge over the past few years?'
Migwan points out: 'The bottom line is - people will leave their cars at home if there's reliable and affordable public transport. Something that the trains are not. Hopefully they'll get the money together to fully fund it how they want it and not just be a single phased pipe dream.'
Article continues below
Windway thinks: 'Reducing vehicle access east/west further is a big mistake, we never see a plan to widen, construct, repair or improve a road. Blinkered transport plan as usual.'
How do you feel about the new tram plans? Do you think it will work and will it come to fruition? Have your say in our comments section.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Leader Live
17 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Gender critical group threatens legal action over court judgment implementation
Sex Matters, which intervened in the For Women Scotland case against the government, has sent ministers a formal 'letter before action'. In April, the Supreme Court said the words 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex – a ruling which had implications for access to single-sex spaces. Sex Matters argue the Scottish Government is failing to implement the ruling in the public sector, though ministers including John Swinney have said they accept the judgment and are waiting for further guidance from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission before taking the next steps. The letter, seen by the PA news agency, says the government must implement the ruling 'without delay'. It also says the government's guidance in a document called 'Supporting transgender pupils in schools' is 'wrong and must be withdrawn with immediate effect'. The charity's chief executive Maya Forstater spoke to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland radio programme on Wednesday. She said: 'The Supreme Court has made the law absolutely clear: men are male and women are female and both have a right to dignity and privacy in things like toilets and changing rooms as well as specialist services like women's refuges. 'The Scottish Government is dragging its feet, it hasn't changed its policies.' Ms Forstater said the Government had not implemented the ruling in schools or in its own facilities. She said the Government has 14 days to reply to the letter, adding: 'All we're asking them to do is put a simple statement on their website which says that their facilities are separated by sex and they also provide unisex facilities so everyone's included.' A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'The Scottish Government has been clear that we accept the Supreme Court judgment. We are reviewing policies, guidance and legislation potentially impacted by the judgment. 'This will prepare us to take all necessary steps when the regulator of the Equality Act 2010, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, publishes its revised statutory code of practice and associated guidance for services, public functions and associations. 'The EHRC is currently consulting on this revised Code of Practice. 'The Scottish Government's approach is aligned with that of the UK Government and Welsh Government in awaiting the EHRC's revised statutory code of practice. 'We will respond to the letter in due course.'
Rhyl Journal
20 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
Gender critical group threatens legal action over court judgment implementation
Sex Matters, which intervened in the For Women Scotland case against the government, has sent ministers a formal 'letter before action'. In April, the Supreme Court said the words 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex – a ruling which had implications for access to single-sex spaces. Sex Matters argue the Scottish Government is failing to implement the ruling in the public sector, though ministers including John Swinney have said they accept the judgment and are waiting for further guidance from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission before taking the next steps. The letter, seen by the PA news agency, says the government must implement the ruling 'without delay'. It also says the government's guidance in a document called 'Supporting transgender pupils in schools' is 'wrong and must be withdrawn with immediate effect'. The charity's chief executive Maya Forstater spoke to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland radio programme on Wednesday. She said: 'The Supreme Court has made the law absolutely clear: men are male and women are female and both have a right to dignity and privacy in things like toilets and changing rooms as well as specialist services like women's refuges. 'The Scottish Government is dragging its feet, it hasn't changed its policies.' Ms Forstater said the Government had not implemented the ruling in schools or in its own facilities. She said the Government has 14 days to reply to the letter, adding: 'All we're asking them to do is put a simple statement on their website which says that their facilities are separated by sex and they also provide unisex facilities so everyone's included.' A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'The Scottish Government has been clear that we accept the Supreme Court judgment. We are reviewing policies, guidance and legislation potentially impacted by the judgment. 'This will prepare us to take all necessary steps when the regulator of the Equality Act 2010, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, publishes its revised statutory code of practice and associated guidance for services, public functions and associations. 'The EHRC is currently consulting on this revised Code of Practice. 'The Scottish Government's approach is aligned with that of the UK Government and Welsh Government in awaiting the EHRC's revised statutory code of practice. 'We will respond to the letter in due course.'
Wales Online
2 hours ago
- Wales Online
Two of Wales' most senior councillors bite back against MSs who want to change the system
Two of Wales' most senior councillors bite back against MSs who want to change the system Councils are already collaborating and Senedd members with a 'cushy' job should keep out, according to local authority leaders Andrew Morgan is leader of the Welsh Local Government Association (Image: WalesOnline/ Gayle Marsh ) Cutting the number of councils in Wales would likely not save money as authorities are already collaborating to save money, a senior Welsh council leader has said – while taking a pop at any Senedd members who suggest otherwise. The Welsh Local Government Association – the body which represents Wales' 22 councils – is currently meeting for its annual conference in Llandudno. Ahead of that some of its most senior members spoke to journalists about the challenges facing councils and were asked if the long-discussed topic of local government reorganisation remained on the table. The answer was an emphatic and defiant 'no'. The current local government structure in Wales was established in 1996 and the debate about whether the number of councils in Wales needs to change has been ongoing for years since. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here. After the 2016 Assembly election current finance minister Mark Drakeford was given responsibility for councils and said while 22 authorities could remain as the "front door" to which people would access key services there would be an "enhanced level of mandatory and systematic regional working" with the aim of ensuring greater resilience and better planning and delivery of services regionally Article continues below A year later, following a cabinet reshuffle, Alun Davies was appointed to the local government role and indicated he wanted to see 10 local authority areas. However he then rowed back and said he was no longer pursuing compulsory mergers, making him the third Welsh Government minister to abandon reorganisation plans. You can recap all that here. When, this week, a question about whether the number of councils should be cut from 22 was put to the head of the WLGA and leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf council Andrew Morgan, because the topic continued to be discussed by some Senedd members, he bit back. "Some of the people, sometimes, who say about local government organisation, perhaps maybe they should just try spend some time as a councillor. Maybe if they understood what day to day goes on in a all very well a backbencher in the Senedd [saying that] but I think they've got a cushy life compared to most council leaders and the work and effort has to be put in. "I also would say maybe sometimes they don't speak from a point of evidence." Cllr Morgan said slashing staff and setting up large super-councils could make initial savings and he accepted there was an element of "spend to save" but said there is a £1bn-plus shortfall predicted over the next three years for local government. "If you could make £200m saving over the long term, that doesn't cover the shortfall in funding for one year," he said. Cllr Morgan said there were now plenty of examples of different councils working together. For example Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan, and Bridgend share regulatory services while RCT and Merthyr have shared youth services and community safety resources. "Every local authority can identify lots of savings where we reduced officers and we are now covered in a bigger geographical area in terms of our services," he said. "We're constantly trying to reduce down those savings. If you go back a decade and say a decade ago that £200m could be saved – although we questioned at the time it was feasible – I would argue an awful lot of those savings have already been made through the changes and the collaborations we've done. "I would say to anybody who thinks that local government reorganisation is a silver bullet – I would suggest it's like putting a plaster on someone who has just lost their arm. It really isn't going to save us long-term. I would really question those people who think that this is the way forward." Mark Pritchard, the leader of Wrexham council, said he believed reorganisation was "a vanity project – one of many from the Welsh Government". He said: "Whether you have 11 local authorities in Wales, or 15 or 18 or 22, you still have to fund them accordingly. "Is there a possibility of savings? Maybe. I don't do knee-jerk reactions, I never have, but there has to be a strong business case." He said there was little evidence of how money would be saved. "If you're going to change something you have to change it for the betterment of the services and if you can save money at the same time why wouldn't you want to do it? Absolutely," he said. But he added: "Wales is a very diverse place, different cultures – different languages, different understandings. It's not a Manchester, it's not a Birmingham or London. Article continues below "Look at the health board [here] – big is not always better. The reason why the health board is in a mess, in my opinion, is because they've created a monster. It's too big and the sooner we reduce it the better". Of Senedd members advocating reorganisation he said he was "against throwaway remarks", adding: "It's a little bit rich when they're increasing the MSs to 96 when we don't need them."
