Carno Station Petition Shunted Into Siding

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 23rd Jun 2009

The Petitioners for the re-opening of Carno Station are travelling to the National Assembly on June 24th to a media event hosted by Mick Bates AM to mark the second anniversary of the handover of their petition to the Presiding Officer. They are aggrieved because their petition to have Carno station re-opened has been stalled for the last year.

Chairman of the Carno Station Action Group, Tony Burton, said "There was tremendous progress in the first year after we handed in the petition. The Enterprise and Learning Committee came to Carno to hold a hearing and concluded that a formal business case should be developed. The Deputy First Minister endorsed this and pointed to TraCC, the Mid Wales Transport Consortium, as the body to carry out the work. The WAG Head of Rail said they would look to see Carno as a priority within the 5 year Regional Transport Plan and encouraged our group to contribute to the business case by providing evidence to TraCC. So we got busy and prepared a draft over the first six months of 2008."

The Action Group prepared their draft along the lines of the Welsh Transport Appraisal Guidance (WelTAG), as recommended by WAG. Entitled the 'Draft Carno Transport Appraisal', the 62 page document was submitted to TraCC on July 1st, 2008.

Since then there has been no progress. TraCC have done no work to complete the formal document that the Enterprise and Learning Committee called for, citing lack of funding for consultants to assess and amend the Action Group's draft.

Commenting Tony Burton said "The Petition system itself is a fine innovation by the National Assembly, but it means little if there is no follow-through from the various branches of Government involved. We look to the Deputy First Minister to break the logjam and get the business case moving again. It needs to be finished in time to provide input into the Regional Transport Plan 5 year programme - i.e. by late autumn."

Montgomeryshire AM Mick Bates is hosting a Media Event at the Assembly on June 24th to coincide with the Petitioners' visit, starting at 12 noon in the Media Briefing Room in the Senedd. After a presentation on the development of the campaign so far, there will be a question and answer session. The Deputy First Minister and other AM's have been invited to attend.

Commenting on the event Mick stated:

"The Carno Station Action Group has worked tirelessly in their campaign to secure the re-opening of Carno station in Machynlleth, which could offer immense benefits in terms of sustainability, carbon reduction and access to public transport in rural areas.

"I am disappointed that despite their determination and dedication the Action Group is yet to receive support from the Welsh Government. I hope that this event today will help bring this issue to the forefront of the Government's attention, to ensure that the Carno station Business Case is completed in time to be included within TraCC's Regional Transport Plan for Mid Wales."

Note for Editors:

TraCC, or Trafnidiaeth Canolbarth Cymru, is a consortium of three local authorities, Powys, Ceredigion and South Gwynedd, which assists the Welsh Assembly Government in delivering its national integrated transport policies in the Mid Wales region.

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