The Cardiff Parkway mainline train station project needs to be approved says Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens. She also stressed her new economic advisory group is anything but a 'talking shop' and will help shape the Welsh narrative at the heart of a new º£½ÇÊÓƵ industrial strategy.
With the º£½ÇÊÓƵ Government having ruled out re-classifying rail enhancement projects, such as the next phase of high-speed rail ( HS2 ) from London to Birmingham, as England only - which would ensure significant Barnett Formula consequentials for the - she insisted she is making the case for more rail investment in Wales.
The acid test of her powers of persuasion with the Department of Transport, and more importantly the Treasury, will be the outcome of next spring's multi-year º£½ÇÊÓƵ Government spending review.
Last week she announced an economic advisory group, which met for the first time on Monday, to help shape the evidence-based narrative for Wales in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ Government's new industrial strategy, as well as the Welsh case in the spending review. The strategy, which will be published next spring, is focusing on eight growth sectors, including advanced manufacturing, life sciences, creative industries, and clean energy.
The advisory board includes the chair of CBI Wales and chief executive of Neath-based The Safety Letterbox Company, Alison Orrells; the lead for professional advisory firm PwC in Wales and the west of England, John-Paul Barker; the chair of Chepstow-based medtech company Creo Medical, Kevin Crofton; and the general secretary of TUC Wales, Shavanah Taj.
She dismissed claims by some that it is another talking shop and tick box exercise.
Ms Stevens is also engaging with the key sectors that will underpin the industrial strategy through a series of roundtable events. Two have already been held, attended by leading figures in the Welsh creative industries and tech sectors.
She said: "The group has been set up with a specific purpose, which is to essentially tell the Welsh story in the industrial strategy and to arm me, when around the cabinet table, with arguments and asks for the multi-year spending review, although obviously I have my own ideas around that too.
"Those two things will deliver the two key measures for me as Welsh Secretary, which are economic growth and the 2030 clean power mission, where we have a massive opportunity in Wales on what we can do on renewables, particularly around floating offshore wind (new licences from the Crown Estate in the Celtic Sea).
"This is a new industrial revolution in Wales, and the jobs and the investment that will come with that, if we get it right, I think will be huge and a defining story of this government. The eight sectors identified in the industrial strategy reflect strengths in Wales, and this is about making sure Wales is at the front and centre of how it is delivered."
On the work ahead for the advisory group, which she chairs, she added: "Over the next six months, we need to crystallise what we need and be able to tell that story with the evidence base behind it. You can judge me on whether it has been successful when the strategy is published and the spending review comes to fruition."
Despite being called in as a project deemed a development of national significance more than two years ago, the Welsh Government is still to make a planning decision for the proposed Parkway mainline train station at St Mellons and an integrated 900,000 sq ft business park.
The company behind the project, Cardiff Parkway Developments, is one in which the Welsh Government is a minority shareholder, along with other equity holders the Roberts family and financial services giant Investec.
Last week, the project again secured cross-party support in a debate. The decision on planning will be made by First Minister Eluned Morgan, having announced the position back at the beginning of October - after the Welsh Government had indicated one would have been made back in April.
Engineering giant Rolls-Royce had already appraised the site, with excellent public transport links provided with a mainline train station, as a potential location for an investment that could create thousands of much-needed high-skilled jobs. Rolls-Royce is a key supplier in the Aº£½ÇÊÓƵUS multi-billion-pound nuclear submarine contract with the Australian government.
The business park element of the Cardiff Parkway project could provide an annual economic uplift of up to £265m to the Cardiff Capital Region and £5bn over a 20-year assessed period. It would also help Wales punch above its weight in attracting inward investment, according to independent research by property advisory firm Savills.
The º£½ÇÊÓƵ Government has promised to speed up planning to unlock growth. The Welsh Government has also promised to follow suit, and last month, subject to regulation changes from next year, renewable projects below 50 megawatts will be determined by its planning body, Planning and Environment Decision Wales (PEDW), removing the final step of a minister making a decision.
Speaking in her capacity as MP for Cardiff East, where the proposed project falls under, she said:"I can say as a constituency MP that my view is it should absolutely go ahead, and it would transform the east of Cardiff.
"If anyone came to one of my colleagues in parliament and said we will build you a railway station that will be privately funded with no public sector money, so that you can have public transport that will allow people in an area of some economic deprivation to be able to get to jobs, they would bite your hand off.
"I'm not saying anything that people don't already know, but I absolutely support Cardiff Parkway. I want it to happen, and I hope a decision will be made as quickly as possible because the longer it goes on, the more difficult it becomes.
"It has gone through two planning inquiries. We know the report is there (PEDW planning inspector), so a decision needs to be made, and I sincerely hope it will be a go-ahead. For my constituents, it will transform their lives."
If consented, Cardiff Parkway Developments would need to revisit its business and financial plans in light of planning delays. The initial pre-Covid indicative price tag for a four-platform mainline train station was put at £120m. With inflationary pressures, that would have gone up significantly.
While always positioned as a privately funded station, being operated by Transport for Wales (TfW), alongside income generated from train companies via a track access charge, would underpin a private sector funding model. TfW, which is wholly-owned by the Welsh Government, has worked closely with the project for several years on this approach.
While economic development is devolved in Wales, there are a number of funding support mechanisms administered via the º£½ÇÊÓƵ Government, which Welsh firms, universities, and organisations can access, including through research councils, Innovate º£½ÇÊÓƵ and export finance. There is also the potential for deployment of hundreds of billions from pension funds to back the scaling-up of private businesses and infrastructure projects, as well as a new º£½ÇÊÓƵ sovereign wealth fund.
Asked if they should be Barnetised, Ms Stevens said: "I am interested in outcomes. I used to run a business with my partners (Thompson Solicitors) before I came into parliament, which employed more than 1,000 people with significant turnover.
" However, in order to make decisions, you need a stable government and a clear sense of policy direction. We did some mergers and acquisitions over the years, and you cannot make those decisions about recruitment and investment unless you have got that stable platform.
"I am interested in outcomes, and I think that we want to see something where government gives a clear direction, creates stability, and gives people the confidence to invest and grow their businesses. We (Wales) need to get our fair share of what is available to drive economic growth and create jobs."
Rail investment in Wales
The lack of º£½ÇÊÓƵ Government investment in the Welsh rail network goes back decades, with Wales receiving less than 2% of enhancement project investment in England and Wales - despite having around 10% of the network.
"However, for future funding, Wales will be competing with England, where in the north, mayors like Andy Burnham for Greater Manchester have been making the running for legitimate greater investment.
Even in London, which per capita has secured significantly above the º£½ÇÊÓƵ average on rail investment for decades, its mayor, Sadiq Khan, is also getting traction for a new north-south Crossrail project.
The Welsh Government's transport body, TfW, which is overseeing the South Wales Metro electrification project, has already developed strong business cases for rail investment in Wales, including new Metro networks in Bay and North Wales and next phases of Cardiff Crossrail. There are also strong cases for five new publicly funded train stations - recommended via the Burns Commission and taken forward by TfW and the Burns Delivery Unit - from Cardiff to .
The Burns Commission was set up by the Welsh Government to look at boosting public transport investment in south-east Wales after former First Minister Mark Drakeford took the decision in 2017 not to proceed with a Senedd manifesto pledge to deliver an M4 relief road.
Through the Barnett Formula, the Welsh Government used to receive a transfer from changes to the budget of the Department of Transport (DfT) based on a comparability factor of around 90% - set against a 5% º£½ÇÊÓƵ population share calculation. The transfer was based on any change to the DfT budget.
The comparability factor was high because non-devolved items were a very small part of its budget, and Network Rail spending was not included.
However, with HS2 and Network Rail spending now part of the calculation, and a much larger proportion of the DfT's budget, the comparability factor for Wales has fallen to around 33%.
That squeeze doesn't impact Scotland, where all rail infrastructure spending is devolved. The decision of the Welsh Government in 2005 not to take up the offer of the devolution of rail powers, which Scotland grabbed, would have ensured full consequentials for all rail enhancement projects in England.
Before resigning as Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, announced an advisory group to help shape strategic considerations for her department's capital portfolio. The panel, which still stands, doesn't have Welsh-based representation.
First Minister Eluned Morgan has called on Sir Keir Starmer to address rail underfunding in Wales, although her government now sees rail devolution as "a process and not an event."
Ms Steven said: I can't change what's gone on in the past, but I can change what happens in the future. And number two, if we are going to deliver economic growth in this country, then people need good public transport to be able to get to these new jobs.
"Businesses won't invest unless they can see a labour market and public transport infrastructure, where they can recruit people that can get to work. So my job ahead of the spending review is to make sure that we have got in place, through joint working with the Welsh Government, the Department for Transport and other colleagues, a pipeline of rail infrastructure projects."
On the already strong business cases for projects across Wales for rail enhancement projects running into billions of pounds, she said: "We cannot just throw everything on the table and say we are going to do everything. So, we have to prioritise that list of projects to make what are going to be the most impactful happen first.
"So, come the outcome of the spending review , my priority for that is to make sure that we have got that infrastructure package agreed at the appropriate amount. I am obviously not going to say what this is, but it has to do what is needed to deliver that economic growth and you cannot do one without the other."
Find out about traffic and travel issues where you live:
