PUTTING NEWPORT ON THE MAP?

Simply making Newport a convenient place to get to other places from it or to quickly pass by is a no brainier and does little to deal with the underlying problems that Newport faces when it comes to retail and commercial activity within the city centre and the lack of easily accessible public transport in and around the city. For whatever reason it is relative easy to come to the conclusion that Newport barely figures in the collective mind of the Welsh Government. 

Relatively recent developments have done little to counter this train of thought - 20 years ago the geographical SE of our country was for most purposes pretty the former county of Gwent - with or without Caerphilly. Now the SE for a variety of purposes includes Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan and RCT. This relatively low key change in regional geographical emphasis slipped by almost unnoticed but has done Newport few favours. 

Whereas 20 years ago long term thinkers were concerned about the Severn side agenda now we face the consequences - social, economic and political of the Cardiff capital city Region.. twenty years ago  our SE had one University (the University of Newport) the new SE at one point had  4 universities with Cardiff, Cardiff Metropolitan and University of Glamorgan lumped in together. 

That development combined with UWN management publically falling out with the then Labour in Wales Minister of Education meant that when up against it there would be no cavalry riding to the rescue. All those years that UWN had spent expensively wining and dining Labour in Newport and their cronies counted for nothing - all UWN got rather than support was the sound of silence. Post merger the continued visible run down of Newport City Centre campus does not provide a stable base upon which to build any knowledge and IT focused knowledge quarter. 

Transport wise our home city has missed out on the benefits of the reopening of the Ebbw Vale line to passenger traffic. Newport ceased to be (to a degree) the default initial destination for most travellers as trains run direct to Cardiff. The almost certainly deliberate decision to have trains running direct to Cardiff from Ebbw Vale (which was always the plan) but no slower hourly service to Newport significantly tweaked our regions transport geography. 

Media wise it's much the same, Newport - our country's third largest urban area barely features on our own national media - it was not until fairly recently that Newport (in Gwent) began to appear on the BBC Wales weather map. Football wise things are much the same -  Wrecsam football club gets far more media coverage on BBC Wales than Newport County ever does and this is despite the fact Newport has been in higher division for six years. 

The costly (in many ways) proposed M4 Relief road won't solve Newport and South Gwent traffic problems or cut firm on the short local journeys we have to make because of the lack of an alternative reliable method of public transport. The proposed metro, which could take significant steps towards developing some long overdue integrated public transport infrastructure appears to be more concerns with ferrying people and and out of Cardiff, rather than tackling even indirectly some of the underlying issues affecting Newport. 

We quite simply have to do better than that. What's needed - apart from railway stations at Celtic Lakes, Caerleon / Ponthir, Magor and Llanwern (with adequate, safe and secure park and ride, and other facilities) is an interested system of public transport (with rail, light rail, trams and buses) that stretches north to Cwmbran, east to Magor / Caldicot and Chepstow and West to central and eastern Cardiff providing us with easily accessible realistic alternatives to using our cars. 

Along with a decent easily accessible integrated public transport system - the norm in more than a few paces - we also need to look at creating a level playing field for our local small businesses. The Friars Walk in Newport has been a welcome exception to the last thirty five years, where across the south east, we have seen the commercial hearts of many of our communities (including Newport) seriously damaged (if not ripped out in some cases) as a result of a combination of aggressive policies pursued by the larger retail chains and exceptionally poor decision-making on the part of local government and central government indifference.

When combined with the rapid growth of unsustainable, ill-thought out and more than questionable out of town and edge of town retail developments which leave next to no place for the smaller local businesses and retailers and deprive consumers of real choice. When you factor in parking charges, business rates and the effect of the closure of high street banks and post offices in many of our communities and you begin to see why many of our smaller businesses and local shopping centres are up against it.

We need to focus on creating the right conditions for our local small businesses (and our communities) to not just survive, but to thrive and grow in Newport and across the SE. They are a vital part of the local economy, for as well as trading with us the consumers and customers, they also trade with each other - so the community gets twice the benefit. Money spent by and in local businesses spends on average three times longer in the local economy than that spent with chain stores which is instantly lost to the local economy which in times of recession our communities can ill afford - this are some the reasons why we need to change Newport and change Wales.  

GOING THE EXTRA MILE

Our small businesses in Wales make a vital contribution to our economy and account for 95% of all businesses in Wales; it is vital we support this sector. Business rates still account for a significant part of operating costs for small businesses and as a result prevent businesses from growing, from investing in themselves and in many cases, creating more jobs. 

We need to remove the burden of business rates and allow our private sector to flourish and create employment opportunities.  Small businesses are vital for our economy, they form the backbone of our economy and they are vital in terms of spreading economic growth beyond our cities and towns into our smaller towns and communties. 

If we truly want our country to be thrive, then we have to support and develop our small businesses. Business rates are a burden – they account for a far greater proportion of operating costs for a small business than they do for large businesses. Plaid Cymru has long championed the importance of local economies when it comes to generating national wealth. 

Plaid wants to see the Welsh Government introduce permanent business rate relief for 90,000 small businesses – 20,000 more than the Welsh Government is offering – and to give more public sector contracts to local business. At the moment Welsh Government says 50% of £6 billion public procurement is sourced from Welsh Companies – Plaid would like to see that increased to 75%, putting another £1.5 billion into the pockets of Welsh companies.

In the New Year, we have a perfect opportunity to support local businesses, as shoppers, we have enormous buying power. Every £1 we spend in a local shop is worth 63p to the local economy and small firms generate 58% more economic benefit for local economies than large firms. As long noted by the Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England, every £10 pound spent in a local business circulates at least three times before it leaves the local economy rather than vanishing when spent in the branches of chains. 

Now it should not all be simply down to us; the Welsh Government should be leading on this and could do much more to support Welsh businesses. A solid step to boost our small to medium sized businesses would be to ensure that the Welsh Development Bank given an extra £500 million to plug the funding gap by using the Financial Transaction monies recently transferred from Westminster, and seed the development of a new network of community banks on our high streets.

STAND UP FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Our small businesses in Wales make a vitally important contribution to our economy and account for 95% of all businesses in Wales; it is vital we support this sector. Business rates still account for a significant part of operating costs for small businesses and as a result prevent businesses from growing, from investing in themselves and in many cases, creating more jobs. 

We need to remove the burden of business rates and allow our private sector to flourish and create employment opportunities.  Small businesses are vital for our economy, they form the backbone of our economy and they are vital in terms of spreading economic growth beyond the cities and into our cities, larger and smaller towns. 

If we truly want our small towns across Wales to be thriving, then we have to support small businesses. Business rates are a burden – they account for a far greater proportion of operating costs for a small business than they do for large businesses. Plaid has long championed the importance of local economies when it comes to generating national wealth. 

Every £1 spent in a local business selling local produce is worth twice as much to the economy as £1 spent in a supermarket, due to local reinvestment and spending. As long noted by the Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England, every £10 pound spent in a local business circulates at least three times before it leaves the local economy rather than vanishing when spent in the branches of chains. 

A Plaid Cymru government would further extend the rate relief scheme that we implemented in Government to covers all businesses whose rateable value is £10,000 or less and extend the tapered relief scheme up to £20,000.  Some 90,000 businesses could see a reduction in their business rates as a result and more than 70,000 businesses across Wales would be taken out of the rates system. 

Plaid would raise the money, which would go towards paying for this, by mirroring the business rates system, as it currently exists in England where large businesses pay more than small businesses. While larger businesses would pay more, they would still pay less in Wales than they would across the border. The extra money raised through the increased bill for large businesses would raise more than enough to cut bills for small businesses.