MAKE LIKE LUXEMBOURG!

When it comes to integrated public transport we would do well to make like Luxembourg which is about to become the first country in the world to make all its public transport free. The re-elected coalition government led by Xavier Bettel, who was sworn in for a second term as prime minister, will see fares on trains, trams and buses will be lifted next summer. Bettel’s Democratic party will form a government with the left wing Socialist Workers’ party and the Greens, had vowed to prioritise the environment during the recent election campaign. 

Luxembourg City, the capital of the small Grand Duchy, suffers from some of the worst traffic congestion in the world and is home to about 110,000 people, but a further 400,000 commute into the city to work. Drivers in the capital spent an average of 33 hours in traffic jams in 2016. While the country as a whole has 600,000 inhabitants, nearly 200,000 people living in France, Belgium and Germany cross the border every day to work in Luxembourg. 

The Grand Duchy, has shown a progressive attitude to public transport. This summer, the government brought in free transport for every child and young person under the age of 20. Additionally secondary school students can use free shuttles between their institution and their home. Commuters need only pay €2 for up to two hours of travel, which in a country of just 2,590 square km (999 square miles) covers almost all journeys. From the start of 2020 all tickets will be abolished, saving on the collection of fares and the policing of ticket purchases. As yet no decision has been taken on what to do about first- and second-class compartments on trains. 

REMEMBERING THE CHARTISTS

Last weekend saw the annual commemoration of the Chartists in Newport and across the South East. The Chartists struggle for the vote (and equal rights) was a long one, culminating initially with the Newport Rising in on 4th November 1839. The Chartist commemorations in Newport continue to go from strength to strength - with a combination of public events, marches, concerts, street theatre and an academic conference. 

The commemoration will hopefully continue to grow and develop as I t makes a real and positive contribution to Newport. We should continue to remember the Chartists here in Newport and within a wider context within Wales, the UK and Europe as part of the struggle for democracy and equal rights which is ongoing snd remains relevant  today as our democracy continues to evolve. 

1839 rather than 2018

The well organised and well attended events of the last weekend, fully supported by Newport City Council, contracts starkly with the underhand destruction of the popular Chartist mural, off John Frost Square (in Newport) on Thursday 3rd October 2013 which robbed many Newport residents of part of their personal and cultural history. 

I (personally, and no doubt many others) have fond memories of walking past the mural as children (in may case with my grandmother) and being fascinated by it. Now its gone, merely a memory, reduced to rubble on the (relative) quiet by the Labour Party in Newport, which was anxious to avoid embarrassing scenes as a demo to protest the destruction of the then proposed of the mural was in the offing.

The wining pathetic excuses bleated by Labour in Newport and their persistent refusal to engage and find a way to save the mural just about sums up the way the town of Newport has been treated over the years. Few people are against development or redevelopment but it needs to be sustainable and sympathetic to the needs of the city. The failure to work with local indigenous small businesses in and around Newport is a reality that has done great economic damage to the local economy and weakened our economy.

Gone but not forgotten

Friars Walk was welcomed, but, its struggling and it seems to have sucked the commercial live out of other parts of the town. We have to do something different, the new shopping centre, has promised much but the jurying still out on whether it will deliver much of lasting benefit, in a similar manner to the Kingsway Shopping Centre (back in the 1970's). 

Any shopping development should contain retail opportunities for small local businesses as money spent in local businesses circulates three times as long as money spent in 'UK national chains. Simply filling the development with chains means that what local money is spent will get hoovered up and vanished out of town as rapidly as possible. 

Various attempts to develop or redevelop Newport over the years, largely via the questionable vehicle of Newport Unlimited (more like 'Newport limited') have failed to deliver lasting economic growth. Local council cuts which continue to undermine local services have not helped, but, neither has a complete lack of vision and the contempt which has been demonstrated for the cities inhabitants today over the years.

If we are serious about redevelopment in Newport - then something needs to be done about the longtime empty near derelict Westgate Hotel in the heart of Newport. The former objective of the Chartists should be resurrected and redeveloped as a world class Chartists heritage centre - for both visitors to our city and the also for the rest of us.

Keywords: The Newport Rising, The Chartists,