North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has today hosted and spoken at an Assembly event highlighting the importance of inclusion and wellbeing in the design and delivery of transport services in Wales.
The event, organised by ESP Group, which works with major transport providers and public bodies to meet the needs of millions of travellers and public service users every day.
The event highlighted how transport has the power to change lives and that connectivity is key to the success of many local and national policies.
Speaking at the event, Mr Isherwood said:
“As a Member of the Assembly’s Economy, Skills and Infrastructure Committee, Chair of a number of Assembly Cross Party Groups, including Disability and Neurological Conditions, and a member of other Cross Party Groups including those on older people and on deaf issues, I am delighted to sponsor and open this event – and thank the ESP Group for inviting me to do so.
“ESP deliver a range of transport technologies and services, for example, including passenger assist services and concessionary passes in Wales. They do a great deal of work in the area of inclusion and well-being in transport, and this event is similar to successful events they held in Westminster and Holyrood last year, with presentations from both ESP and their partner charities and funders around dementia and transport, older people and car cessation (its impacts and solutions), rural transport and younger people accessing jobs and training.
“Importantly, I am delighted to see that the voices of people will be large - where all their work is built on engagement and co-design. This is about unlocking people’s strengths to build better lives and stronger communities. Community involvement in co-designing and co-delivering local services should therefore be central”.
He added: “I recently sponsored an event here for the infrastructure development company, Furrer+Frey, launching their White Paper on Developing Sustainable, Agile, Multimodal Transport. As this said: Investment in transport infrastructure in Wales is vital for the future of Wales – both economically and socially; transport infrastructure connects communities; connecting communities’ opens opportunity to areas including Employment, Education, Health, Arts and Tourism, and development and delivery of transport infrastructure in Wales must be deployed in a sustainable managed way using local resources wherever possible.
“We’ve got to have full and effective integration between different modes of transport. So, you’d expect car to rail, bus to rail and car to bus all to feature as part of that network. Disability access needs to be at the core of all of this.”