North Wales Assembly Member, Mark Isherwood, has urged the new Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure to engage with local businesses situated on the Welsh Government’s preferred route for a Bontynewydd to Caernarfon bypass.
Mr Isherwood, who has long been calling for the Welsh Government to listen to the concerns of businesses on the route, appealed to the new Cabinet Secretary, Ken Skates AM, to do this when questioning him in the Assembly Chamber this week.
He said: It’s three years since the Minister for Economy, Science and Transport in the previous Government announced her revised preferred route, whilst still investigating a business impact assessment, despite concerns raised by local businesses and employers that that revised preferred route and its predecessor would damage local business and jobs, and there was an alternative route that would do neither.
“Last July, notices were given out by the Welsh Government to landowners on the Welsh Government’s preferred route that environment surveys were to be carried out, and, last September, your predecessor, in a statement to this Assembly, said the A487 Caernarfon and Bontnewydd bypass is well advanced. In addition to considering the environmental impact, in partnership with Natural Resources Wales, as you indicate, will you again assure local businesses on the Welsh Government’s preferred route that you will engage with them at last and listen to their genuine, evidence-based concerns at last and factor that into your final decision?”
The Cabinet Secretary insisted said they have been “engaging with local communities throughout the process, and with landowners during the design and development, to understand the likely impact of the scheme on properties and businesses in the area and will continue this engagement moving forward.”
Mr Isherwood added: “New Minister, more generalities, no detail, when the views expressed by local businesses and residents were disregarded at the time of the original consultations.”