Mark Isherwood: Towards the end of the second Assembly, I attended a north Wales economic forum. Bangor University academics gave a presentation on the feasibility of an Anglesey-Cardiff air link. They said that it might be feasible and that it merited a short-term subsidy, provided that a business plan was in place to ensure that it was sustainable and self-funding beyond the first period. That would be on the basis of extended air links—to Dublin initially, then to UK cities, and then to the continent of Europe. However, a political decision was taken. There was an election on 3 May 2007, and, lo and behold, the first flight was on 8 May 2007. We saw a four-year contract launched in December 2010, with a further £1.2 million subsidy.

In terms of other links, we have the two north Wales express trains running from Holyhead to Cardiff. When the first one, Gerallt 1, was launched, it did not have a stop in Wrexham, the largest town in north Wales; it still does not. Wrexham County Borough Council wrote to the then Welsh Government first with a proposed alternative route and then with a request for a meeting. It tells me that it never received a response. Gerallt 2 was then launched. I questioned the First Minister about this last term and asked why his Government was subsidising a second premier express train service leaving Holyhead just 15 minutes before the general service in the morning. When that was first launched, it did not stop in Denbighshire, Flintshire or Wrexham. Only after an outcry was one stop in Wrexham included, but that was at the cost of a service to Birmingham, which meant that people travelling to work in Birmingham from Clwyd South lost out. That second train received a subsidy from May to December last year of some £625,000 as a stopgap until the new 67 DVT train was ready in December, with, I believe, £3.5 million pledged. As the rail user groups that have e-mailed me have said, there is absolutely no need to run a first-class kitchen car. In real life, a café-restaurant would have gone bust with so few customers.

Also last week, Wrexham council wrote to the Minister expressing concerns about the announcement the previous week of the Welsh Government’s intention to cut the local transport services grant by 27% and about the inadequate notice given, meaning that the travelling public in Wrexham and across Wales could lose vital transport services without the benefit of adequate notice or consultation with users about the impact. It now faces additional cuts of £126,000 and says that the timing of the announcement does not give local authorities proper time to examine options in detail, or to consult with the public and stakeholders. It says that the impact of this will be compounded by the related decision to significantly cut the bus service operators grant.