Mike Hedges AM Questions Welsh Government Minister about Swansea Tidal Lagoon project

Mike Hedges AM Questions Welsh Government Minister about Swansea Tidal Lagoon project

Local AM for Swansea East Mike Hedges has queried the fairness of the system used by the UK Government to assess the cost of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon compared with Hinkley Point.

Speaking after Questions to the Welsh Government Leader of the House, Mike said…… ‘under the current arrangements, the Tidal Lagoon is not getting a fair assessment; for Hinkley Point, the decommissioning costs have been capped, whereas no part of the Lagoon project have been capped by the UK Government. We need a level playing field with all aspects of the respective projects assessed on the same basis so that a true comparison can be made. What we have at the moment is a system which massively favours the nuclear option; what we need is a fair system that allows the full and true costs of nuclear and green energy to be compared side by side.’

Questions to Julie James AM 24 April 2018

Can I ask for a Welsh Government statement regarding ensuring the fairness of price comparison between the Swansea bay tidal lagoon and Hinkley Point? As the decommissioning costs and storage costs for the Hinkley Point development have been capped, we're not comparing like with like. If the building cap cost of the Swansea tidal lagoon was capped at a level well below what it was likely to cost, then it would make it a lot cheaper to generate electricity there.103

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Yes, indeed. Mike Hedges makes an extremely important point. The UK Government has chosen to protect taxpayers from exposure to all of the costs of waste and decommissioning liabilities of new nuclear power plants through the Energy Act 2008. Our understanding is that the total decommissioning costs within the funded decommissioning plan, including the contingency, are estimated to be around £8.5 billion, but given the costed index-linked, actual costs by the end of the station's 60-year operational life could be as high as £116 billion, once inflation is taken into account. Now, clearly, that's not a level playing field. Discussions are ongoing between BEIS—the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy—the developers and the Welsh Government about the technical issues and actual costs associated with the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, including on financing the project to include other equivalent costs.

MIKE HEDGES AM CRITICISES DECISION TO BOMB SYSRIA IN ASSEMBLY DEBATE

MIKE HEDGES AM CRITICISES DECISION TO BOMB SYSRIA IN ASSEMBLY DEBATE.

Speaking after the debate, Mike Hedges said…. ‘I have real concerns about what the UK Government is trying to achieve in Syria. Of course use of Chemical weapons should be condemned outright, but is military action going to lead to peace in Syria and the wider region. Use of Military Force in an area of long standing conflicts has rarely had the outcomes that were sought, and many innocent people have lost their lives in the process.

Surely sanctions and talks have a better chance of providing a long term solution to the issues in Syria.

Speech

Mike Hedges AM - Can I first of all say I voted in favour of having this debate? The second thing is: I'm very pleased to find that Theresa May has found this infamous money tree in order to be able to fund the bombing of Syria. I also think, if we live in a parliamentary democracy, the Westminster Parliament should have had an opportunity to vote on whether we went to war and attacked another country or not, and we didn't have to work to Donald Trump's timetable. If you look at what we've done so far, we wanted to bomb Syria, which would only have helped Assad, which would have helped Isis. Then, we bombed Isis to help Assad. Now, we're back bombing Assad, which would only help Isis. It's almost as if our policy is, 'Can we keep this civil war going for as long as possible?'577

We didn't bomb the site of the chemical weapons, thankfully. How do I know that? Because thousands and millions of people didn't die. Because if you bomb chemical weapon plants, the chemicals get put out into the atmosphere. The whole of the Middle East could have been covered in whatever chemical weapons are meant to be there. 'Ah', you say, 'they haven't been mixed yet'. Well, let's say they haven't been mixed—when you bomb them, what do you think you're going to do with the chemicals but mix them? If you bombed a chlorine plant we would have created absolute havoc. But we seem to have a policy of bombing for peace. It reminds me of the medieval idea of bleeding people to make them better. Neither work. 578

We really do need to intervene in Syria. It worked so well in Iraq and it's worked so well in Libya. After so much success—. Somebody once said, when we used to partition countries, 'It hadn't worked yet, but we hoped the next time would.' The next time never worked. Bombing countries never works. This can only be solved by negotiation, and we need to get peace in the Middle East and we need to get peace in Syria. And the other thing is: there is a worse case happening in the world today, and that is Yemen: the unthought of, unspoken area, where children are dying daily, but because Saudi Arabia are involved, the west is frightened to get involved. 

MIKE HEDGES A.M. WELCOMES NEWS THAT SWANSEA HAS BEEN AWARDED OVER £1 MILLION FOR ROAD SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS FROM WELSH GOVERNMENT.

MIKE HEDGES A.M. WELCOMES NEWS THAT SWANSEA HAS BEEN AWARDED OVER £1 MILLION FOR ROAD SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS FROM WELSH GOVERNMENT.

Mike Hedges AM said…. ‘This is great news for the city as a whole and for parts of my constituency of Swansea East; residents in Blaenymaes will be delighted with the award of £390 000 for road safety improvements in the area. The package of a whole shows the commitment of the Welsh Government to supporting the City Councils ambitious plans for Swansea. Improved transport links across the city will be vital to developing the economy of the City and the City Region.’

Local Transport Plan Funding  - Swansea

Safe Routes in Communities Partial funding for Phase 2 of the Gower scheme including new footway/cycle links, pedestrian crossing, speed reduction and traffic calming measures.   £364,800

 Road Safety Capital Grant City Wide Speed Camera & Speed on Green Camera upgrades – second phase of scheme will include the replacement of existing wet film cameras with digital cameras at a number of locations. £449,000

Area Improvement Works - Portmead & Blaenymaes – provision of 20mph zone, pedestrian crossings and islands, junction redesign and street lighting. £390,900

Road Safety Revenue Grant Road Safety Education and Training £128,694

South Wales Metro £700 000

Local Transport Fund South West Wales Metro Baldwin’s Bridge Interchange Active Travel Scheme Development £100 000

Active Travel Scheme £356 000

Local Transport Network Fund Strategic Bus Corridor Improvements £700 000

MIKE HEDGES AM CRITICISES DECISION TO BOMB SYSRIA IN ASSEMBLY DEBATE.

MIKE HEDGES AM CRITICISES DECISION TO BOMB SYSRIA IN ASSEMBLY DEBATE.

Speaking after the debate, Mike Hedges said…. ‘I have real concerns about what the UK Government is trying to achieve in Syria. Of course use of Chemical weapons should be condemned outright, but is military action going to lead to peace in Syria and the wider region. Use of Military Force in an area of long standing conflicts has rarely had the outcomes that were sought, and many innocent people have lost their lives in the process.

Surely sanctions and talks have a better chance of providing a long term solution to the issues in Syria.

Speech

Mike Hedges AM - Can I first of all say I voted in favour of having this debate? The second thing is: I'm very pleased to find that Theresa May has found this infamous money tree in order to be able to fund the bombing of Syria. I also think, if we live in a parliamentary democracy, the Westminster Parliament should have had an opportunity to vote on whether we went to war and attacked another country or not, and we didn't have to work to Donald Trump's timetable. If you look at what we've done so far, we wanted to bomb Syria, which would only have helped Assad, which would have helped Isis. Then, we bombed Isis to help Assad. Now, we're back bombing Assad, which would only help Isis. It's almost as if our policy is, 'Can we keep this civil war going for as long as possible?'577

We didn't bomb the site of the chemical weapons, thankfully. How do I know that? Because thousands and millions of people didn't die. Because if you bomb chemical weapon plants, the chemicals get put out into the atmosphere. The whole of the Middle East could have been covered in whatever chemical weapons are meant to be there. 'Ah', you say, 'they haven't been mixed yet'. Well, let's say they haven't been mixed—when you bomb them, what do you think you're going to do with the chemicals but mix them? If you bombed a chlorine plant we would have created absolute havoc. But we seem to have a policy of bombing for peace. It reminds me of the medieval idea of bleeding people to make them better. Neither work. 578

We really do need to intervene in Syria. It worked so well in Iraq and it's worked so well in Libya. After so much success—. Somebody once said, when we used to partition countries, 'It hadn't worked yet, but we hoped the next time would.' The next time never worked. Bombing countries never works. This can only be solved by negotiation, and we need to get peace in the Middle East and we need to get peace in Syria. And the other thing is: there is a worse case happening in the world today, and that is Yemen: the unthought of, unspoken area, where children are dying daily, but because Saudi Arabia are involved, the west is frightened to get involved. 

Mike Hedges welcomes Welsh Government Announcement of New areas to pilot Welsh Labour Government’s free childcare offer

Mike Hedges welcomes Welsh Government Announcement of New areas to pilot Welsh Labour Government’s free childcare offer

More areas across Wales are set to pilot the Welsh Government’s new ground-breaking childcare offer, Children’s Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies has announced.

Mike Hedges said… ‘ this is good news for people in other areas of Swansea East; this scheme has been a great success in Morriston and Llansamlet, and I am sure that it will meet with equal success when it is rolled out to other areas in the near future. It shows the commitment of the Welsh Labour Government to ensuring that all children in Wales get the best start possible in life, while at the same time allowing parents to go back to work or to education and training.’

When rolled out across Wales, the offer will provide 30 hours of early education and childcare to working parents of 3 and 4 year olds for 48 weeks of the year.

In September 2017, the Welsh Government began piloting the offer in a number of areas in Anglesey, Gwynedd, Caerphilly, Flintshire, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Swansea, and across the whole of Blaenau Gwent. This approach has enabled the Welsh Government to test a range of aspects and issues impacting delivery and take-up.

The Minister has this week announced the offer is being extended to cover the whole counties of Anglesey, Gwynedd and Caerphilly from this month, and the whole of Rhondda Cynon Taff from at the start of September 2018. Discussions are also on-going with Flintshire and Swansea with a view to rolling out the offer to all remaining areas within those authorities as soon as possible.

In addition, the offer is also being expanded immediately into the following areas of Rhondda Cynon Taff CBC: The wards of Brynna, Llanharan, Llanharry, Talbot Green, Hawthorn, Graig, Rhydyfelin Central, Taff’s Well and Treforest.

Mike Hedges AM pledges to help charity raise awareness of symptoms in Swansea East during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in April

Mike Hedges AM pledges to help charity raise awareness of symptoms in Swansea East during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month in April

Mike Hedges AM for Swansea East is supporting Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer’s campaign to help raise awareness of bowel cancer symptoms, as part of Bowel Cancer Awareness Month this April.

In April alone 188 people in Wales will be diagnosed with bowel cancer and 77 people will die of the disease. It’s the nation’s second biggest cancer killer. However, it shouldn’t be. It’s treatable and curable, especially if diagnosed early. Nearly everyone diagnosed at the earliest stage will survive bowel cancer but this drops significantly as the disease develops. Early diagnosis really does save lives, but only around 15% of people are diagnosed at the earliest stage.

Being aware of key symptoms and visiting your GP if things don’t feel right can help increase chances of an early diagnosis. However, according to a recent poll commissioned of 4,000 UK adults by the charity, a third of people in Wales (33%) were not aware of any symptoms at all.

The symptoms of bowel cancer can include:

·         Bleeding from your bottom and/or blood in your poo

·         A persistent and unexplained change in bowel habit

·         Unexplained weight loss

·         Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason

·         A pain or lump in your tummy

Mike Hedges AM said, “As the local AM, I am totally committed to increasing awareness of bowel cancer symptoms, both locally and nationally. I would urge my constituents, if they are worried that something is wrong, to visit their GP. They will want to see you. Your GP may be able to put your mind at rest or refer you for further testing. Early diagnosis really can save lives.” 

Asha Kaur, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer, said, “I’d like to thank Mike Hedges AM for supporting our campaign during Bowel Cancer Awareness Month to increase awareness of key bowel cancer symptoms. Every 15 minutes in the UK someone is diagnosed with bowel cancer. That’s almost 42,000 people every year. But it’s treatable and curable especially if diagnosed early.”

To help you raise awareness of bowel cancer, Bowel Cancer UK and Beating Bowel Cancer is giving away free copies of their handy symptoms guide for you to share with your family and friends. Sign up now to receive your free guide here: bowelcanceruk.org.uk/symptomsguide

Visit Bowel Cancer UK or Beating Bowel Cancer’s website to find out how you can get involved in their campaign for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month: bowelcanceruk.org.uk or beatingbowelcancer.org

Ends

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that the Minister for Environment has announced over £3.4m for improvements to Wales’ Designated Landscapes

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that the Minister for Environment has announced over £3.4m for improvements to Wales’ Designated Landscapes

Welsh Labours Minister for Environment, Hannah Blythyn, has announced more than £3.4m for improvements to Wales’ three National Parks and five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).

Mike Hedges AM said…. ‘I greatly welcome this news; our natural environment is one of our most precious assets, and through the tourist industry makes a significant contribution to the Swansea Economy. We also have a responsibility to Future Generations to safeguard the Environment for their use and enjoyment. This announcement ensures both goals are met. It is great news for Wales!’

The funding will be used to support a wide range of projects across Wales’ designated landscapes, including improving access to the outdoors, promoting conservation and regenerating some of their most fragile areas.

The announcement follows a commitment made by the Minister earlier this month to retain Wales’ designated landscapes and their current purpose of conserving and enhancing natural beauty.

Among the improvements being made will be the introduction of electronic vehicle charging points to increase sustainable travel and improvements to recycling facilities to reduce littering within the National Parks. Access improvements for people with disabilities and other mobility issues will also be rolled out across all designated landscapes.