LAST week, Labour’s new Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Ken Skates, delivered his statement to the Senedd and seemingly reversed Labour’s blanket 20mph speed limit, writes Natasha Ashgar MS.

However, looking closely at what has been said, it becomes increasingly clear that Mr. Skates has played a PR masterclass.

Unfortunately for Wales and the people who have signed the record-breaking half-a-million-strong petition. 20mph is going nowhere and is firmly here to stay.

As time has progressed since Labour’s blanket 20mph policy was introduced last year, public opinion against it has only grown. This disastrous blanket policy has negatively impacted bus services, commuters, emergency services, tourists, residents from all corners of Wales and businesses.

The most concerning aspect of this seemingly public U-turn is that Labour, Plaid and the only Liberal Democrat are all still actively misleading the public, ignoring their plea, petition and calls to rescind even more than before.

Make no mistake about it: Labour will change nothing. The Welsh public has received a lot of warm words, and the press has been quick to report that change is coming. However, no streamlined system exists to create equality amongst councils to revert back and give the public what they want. When all is said and done and when the dust settles, the default speed limit across Wales will remain 20mph.

The Welsh Conservatives have been clear from the start. We would scrap the blanket speed limit and introduce appropriate speed limits in areas where there is clear evidence that they are necessary, such as outside schools, hospitals, and playground areas and revert to 30mph where required.

The Labour Government in Wales is no stranger to anti-motorist initiatives. It has previously banned all roadbuilding and scrapped the relief road for the M4. Despite wafer-thin assurances, it continues flirting with congestion and road charging.

The estimated cost of 20mph is £33 million, a massive amount to spend on such a madcap initiative. Yet, reversing sections of this law will cost an additional £5m. This is an extravagant cost considering the lack of changes we will actually see on our roads.

However, this is all just the tip of the iceberg.

The Welsh Government’s own estimates acknowledge that the policy could impose a staggering cost of as much as £9 billion on the Welsh economy. That substantial amount could be better spent on the failing NHS, a below-par education system (as Wales ranks at the bottom of PISA), or even investing in local public transport services such as buses and train services.

By imposing their punishments on motorists, Labour is strangling economic activity throughout all of Wales.

Blanket 20mph zones and a ban on new roadbuilding before creating a strong, sufficient, and synchronised public transport infrastructure is put in place is nothing short of madness, particularly at a time when Labour-run Transport for Wales (TfW) has come bottom in the UK for overall customer satisfaction and clocked up 1 million minutes of delays last year alone.

Labour’s unexpected change of tack is nothing more than an attempt to curry favour of voters in the run-up to a General Election. Keir Starmer will not want such a divisive issue standing in his way. Yet, with him referring to Wales as a blueprint for what a Labour Government will look like in the UK if he wins the next GE, we can see far more of Labour’s divisive socialist policies becoming law throughout the UK with no light at the end of the road.

In a world where we are seeing huge technological advancements and transport innovation, Wales has had a Labour government in place for twenty-five years who, in the words of Doc Brown from Back to the Future, have firmly decided ‘where we are going, we don’t need roads.’

Natasha Asghar is a Welsh Conservative member of the Senedd for South Wales East and Shadow Minister For Transport.

• Named British Vogue’s Force for Change
• Named as BBC’s 100 women
• Award winner- ‘Devolved Politician of the year 2024’ for her work on the 20mph campaign in Wales.

A senior Pembrokeshire councillor is to be quizzed on what progress has been made in recouping a £200,000 insurance excess paid by the council following the 2022 fire at a Manorbier school.

Manorbier Church in Wales VC School and its adjoining schoolhouse was severely damaged by a fire on October 11, 2022, which broke out in the school roof space.

Pupils and staff were successfully evacuated with no injuries, and a “school from school” was set up in Jameston Village Hall, after a brief period of sanctuary at the nearby Buttyland caravan site.

Pembrokeshire County Council’s insurers have previously said the fire was accidentally started while “hot works” were being carried out by contractors to renew an adjacent flat roof, but, as has previously been stressed, no liability had been accepted to date.

Councillors have previously heard the majority of costs were likely to be met from the council’s insurers, with the caveat of the unknown issue of liability and its effect on the £200,000 insurance excess.

A submitted question, by Councillor Aled Thomas, to be heard at the full council meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council on May 9, will ask Cabinet Member for Education and Welsh Language Cllr Guy Woodham “to update the chamber on what progress the Cabinet have made in recouping the £200,000 insurance excess paid following the devastating non-fault fire at Manorbier school”.

Councillors have previously been told by Cllr Woodham: “The legal issues are not straightforward but will be robustly taken forward.

“At this stage it’s still subject to legal discussion. The excess will be covered by a fund the council holds for insurance excess.”

He said that, if liability was found or accepted, the council would “pursue for the full maximum claim of the costs associated with the fire”.

A public consultation on plans to develop a green hydrogen production facility next to Pembroke Power Station has been launched by energy company RWE Generation UK.

The technology uses the electrolysis of water to split into its constituent elements, hydrogen for fuel and power, and oxygen.

RWE, in its consultation, says: “RWE is progressing proposals to develop a green hydrogen production facility on RWE’s land adjacent to the existing Pembroke Power Station and has launched a statutory pre-application consultation to inform stakeholders and the community.

“RWE values the input of the local community and feedback will be used to inform the plans. RWE Pembroke Green Hydrogen will facilitate the generation of green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is produced from water, using energy obtained from renewable sources.

“The hydrogen can then be used to decarbonise local industrial activities in South Wales, by displacing their current fossil fuel usage. The facility would be located on RWE’s site to the west of Pembroke Power Station and would benefit from being well-screened from local communities, while being accessed via the current power station access road.”

It adds: “It is expected that hydrogen generated by this facility for use in local industry would directly result in the reduction of approximately 93,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, helping to secure a more sustainable future for South Wales’ long-standing industrial heritage. This CO2 saving is the equivalent of removing 18,600 cars from the road each year.”

The 23.7ha development site proposed comprises of a 4ha main electrolyser area, a 1.5km hydrogen gas pipeline corridor, an electrical connection to a high voltage transformer all located to the west of Pembroke Power Station, and an area for connections into the Pembroke Power Station and a cable corridor for connection into the National Grid Substation.

The consultation documents say: “The proposed development is a green hydrogen electrolysis plant that will consume circa 100-110MW of electricity to produce around 2 te/hr green hydrogen gas for third-party uses unrelated to Pembroke Power Station. Including the balance of plant, the total energy consumption for the proposed development will be approximately 140MW.

“The consequent reduction in use of fossil fuels due to substitution by green hydrogen gas, and avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is a beneficial operational effect of the proposed development.”

It says development of the project is expected to take 24 months, and subject to as-yet unsubmitted full plans’ approval, could be built by early 2027.

The consultation runs to May 20.

A hydrogen fuel plant facility was given the backing of county planners last October, at the former Puma Energy site in Milford Haven.

H2 Energy Ecosystem UK Limited sought permission for the erection of an electrolysis hydrogen generation facility, and associated storage facilities and works at the Amoco Road site.