Welsh Politics

Bristol and housing in Bristol will not concern welsh voters.

Wales means North, Mid, West and South of the country .

Is not Monmouthshire in South Wales

Yes

It used not to be I think. Anniebach will know. But I can remember ,as a child, standing on a bridge over the Rhymney river and believing I had one foot in Wales and one in England .

BB, it has been part of Herefordshire, an English county and a Welsh county .

Some think of South Wales as a Country but it is a part of a country and Monmouthshire is only one county. Voters in Cardiganshire,Anglesey are not going to be concerned about traffic in Monmouthshire and making it easier for the English to travel from Bristol to Chepstow are they ?

No but the commuters in Monmouthshire are a large and increasing number who will have a far more substantial and growing influence on the Welsh elections due to sheer weight of numbers that parties will have to cater for.

Of course, all elections are by constituency ballot but the Monmouth constituencies will increase in number in all probability as its population grows.

That's the way it usually works i believe.

Apologies, should be due above not clue.

I think the number of voters in the other Welsh counties is higher than the numbers in Monmouth .

This election is for Wales, not for one county , so traveling from Chepstow to Bristol isn’t going to cause sleepless nights for those who do not live in Monmouthshire

I would think it will cause sleepless nights for the members of the
welsh Assembly and the Westminster MPs in the area.

All things change Annie and outlooks have to change with them, as sad as that might be.

No comment

Monmouthshire has traditionally been Tory. Bristolians might challenge that. When I commuted in and out of Cardiff 20+ yrs ago the traffic was terrible. Can't imagine it's improved.

People in Bristol do not have vote, people in Mid, West and North Wales do.

When travelling these days, I normally go by rail whenever possible, and North Somerset to Newport, Cardiff or Swansea is an excellent service.

However, a few weeks back I did have to use my car to travel to Cardiff and i felt the traffic was somewhat worse than Bristol. That stated, driving in any big city relies on knowing it's gyratory systems and making sure you are in the right lane at the right time as you approach roundabouts, traffic lights and one way systems etc.

If you are not then you can finish up a long way from where you wish to be even with the sat nav going.

Not for the faint-hearted I felt

part of Vaughan Gething’s campaign is changes to The National Care Service of Wales

Anniebach Quote[People in Bristol do not have vote, people in Mid, West and North Wales do.] End Quote.

Annie the growing number of people who commute to Bristol for their work from South Wales do/will have the vote in the Welsh elections. Even if they feel Chepstow, Raglan or the area to the east of Newport are just the dormitory town in their lives they will still be part of the Welsh electorate.

And that is the way it should be.

I am really torn between Vaughan and Eluned

I think Eluned has a point about North Wales. It's still tricky to get from North to South quickly.

North Wales seems to have more affiity with Liverpool; South Wales with Bristol/ M4 corridor.

I'm going for Drakeford. ?

However, still many are wishing to live in and around the City of Bristol with Twenty thousand new homes being ordered to be built in North Somerset
Goodness! We came north on the M5 at about 5.30 this evening and the traffic was backed up for what seemed like miles along the motorway, trying to get off at Weston-Super-Mare. I don't know if it's normally like that or if there had been a traffic incident.

Jalima1108, that is the normal situation at both the Weston Super mare M5 motorway junctions at that time of the evening.

They are at present just starting with the build two thousand new homes just adjacent to junction 21 with many more to come. The problem is that a new junction to be built between junction 21 and 22 of the M5 has just been cancelled due to "lack of funds."

All the motorway exits from Taunton through to the Bristol M32 exit have become extremely dangerous at peak hour times due to tailbacks on the motorway as a recent BBC news program concentrated on.

So, there would seem to be plenty of building planned but no new infrastructure to support it in North Somerset.

The Welsh Assembly has no control on roads in England,

Traffic congestion in south east Monmouthshire is already horrendous even before the removal of the Severn Cossings tolls. There is frequently gridlock in Chepstow. There are huge plans for new housing in the area which will make traffic problems even worse. House prices have already soared.
It will probably mean that businesses will relocate from the more expensive Bristol area to Monmouthshire and the Forest of Dean (which is in England) as well as commuters moving west.
Belatedly, planners are worried that the road infrastructure will need improving when the tolls go (in December).

mostlyharmless, there is much I can agree with in your above post. Development land at Avonmouth, Bristol has run out for further Industrial or commercial development with the only option being to allow building on even more of the Severn floodplain which is already causing problems. Portbury is also in similar circumstances with development planning already being harshly opposed in the nearby Swiss Valley.

Therefore with the Severn Crossing bridge tolls to be brought to an end in December, Monmouthshire and the surrounding area could be the next prime location for many companies wishing to locate near the intersections of the M4, M5 and M32 motorways and the excellent regional rail links to all areas of the country.

Bristol, Avonmouth and Portbury will I feel remain the prime draw for Business, but once over either of the Severn Crossings, the above three destinations are within a few minutes drive...TRAFFIC PERMITTING.

That, of course, is the big question if the attraction of the area is to be maintained. The transport infrastructure already needs to be hugely upgraded in the development circumstances already prevailing, and that at his point in time that is not forthcoming.

It will also be interesting to see what affinity the new arrivals both in people and in commercial interests build with the Welsh community that they come to live within or near too.

Interesting piece in the Western Mail today. All three candidates presenting their cases. .

Eluned is for business and growing the economy.

Vaughan is for Living Wage for carers and care in general.

Mark has yet to set out his stall but will do so in a series of presentations over the next few weeks. Hedging his bets perhaps??

The U.K. is waiting for the news - not.

The new first minister of Wales is being appointed today

There is a very funny programme on Radio 4, ‘Where is Anglesey ‘. Should be ‘Where is Wales’

As expected, Mark Drakeford the new Welsh Labour leader .
He promises a return to the radical socialist traditions of Michael Foot !

He was the only member of the Welsh Assembly to vote for
Corbyn

25,000 party members. 150,000 members of affiliated groups including trade unions