Ceredigion Green Party is really pleased that the road schemes designed to speed up journeys on the stretch of the A487 south of Llanrhystud and north of Aberarth form part of the Welsh Government’s Roads Review. We argued from the start that this scheme was not an improvement but a total waste of taxpayers’ money. As Harry Hayfield, the Green Party’s candidate in the May Senedd elections who lives in Llanrhystud, said at the time, “Improvements to public transport and cycle networks will achieve our aims to get to net zero, not spending £23M on road works to speed up car travel.”
We hope that the Welsh Government sticks to its net zero commitment and stops spending money on making car travel easier. Right now, such sums of money would be usefully spent on training more bus drivers so that our bus services can get back to pre-covid levels. Ceredigion Green Party has written to the Minister responsible for Climate Change, Lee Waters, and is still awaiting his answer on this issue. In the meantime Harry would like to know, “When is our local council going to put up proper notices in our bus shelters to inform passengers about the current cuts. Many passengers haven’t got a clue which service is running and which service is not. As for connecting from one service to another, most likely run by different companies, that is a very difficult thing to do. Our leaders should be sorting this out.”
The shortage at the pumps and its consequent panic buying has revealed yet again our society’s utter reliance on CO2 emitting petrol and diesel. The private car is still king. We’re on a road to disaster if we do not change the way our economy operates. The COP 26 negotiations next month should offer us some hope. Many environmentalists will be in Glasgow demanding urgent action. But all of us can take action here and now, all of us can do less driving. We cannot change to public transport though if that system is broken. We demand therefore that our politicians fix it.
This short press release went into the Cambrian News on Wednesday 6 October 2021. In Llanon, our target ward, outside the shop, the Cambrian News’s headline featured us, the Green Party. We are beginning to make waves!
Elly Foster
Press Officer
