Moving from the Bay to the Junction

Gareth Jones AM is furious because of the announcement that the proposed National Assembly Office relocation project for Llandudno Junction has been put out to tender again, which will result in at least a two year delay in the starting date for the commencement of construction work on the project.

I agree with much of what Mr Jones says. There is a feeling in the North (and in the Valleys, in west Wales and central Wales) that the Assembly is Cardiff centric, that it has little to offer our part of the country. If the Assembly is to be a truly Welsh Assembly rather than a Cardiff Assembly it must offer, and be seen to offer benefits to the whole country.

Many local people in the Conwy area, however, have reservations about the scheme to re-locate the education, transport, health and social service departments to Llandudno Junction. The problem is that that it is seen to be a scheme to move 600 jobs from Cardiff, rather than one that will create jobs in the county. The only jobs that will be created for locals will be of the menial and low paid variety - cleaners, car park attendants etc. The big bucks jobs will be jobs for Cardiff Colonists moving up from the city into Conwy County.

So there may be a small silver lining in the delay, it will give those of us who live in Conwy the chance to evaluate the other re-location projects - to Merthyr and Aberystwyth, to see if these fears are justified, or to be re-assured by the other projects that Assembly relocation will have a real benefit for local people rather than being just an exercise in moving bodies north from Cardiff.