The main highlight of the month was the visit by Magor and Undy school children to Welsh Assembly Government at the Senedd. 
This was due to the kind invitation of John Griffiths AM, a keen advocate and supporter of our demand for Magor and Undy Walkway station. The children really enjoyed it. You can read the full report by clicking here or on the picture.
A couple of other newsworthy items –
- John Griffiths AM received a letter from Ken Skates, the Welsh Government minister for infrastructure, that confirmed recent discussions with officials, which said, “We will build the Magor station proposal into our corridor work. A key consideration within this work will be to look at the strategic opportunities to make better use of the public transport system to relieve congestion on the M4”. The minister also referred to First Minister’s independent commission concerning the recent M4 relief road decision and ‘the need not to predetermine the outcome from that’. We will need to explore this further.
- Co-incidentally, we received a reply from Welsh Government to our recent letter to the First Minister, in which we suggested that ‘Magor station’ should be part of the range of solutions. The reply stated that, “Your suggestion has been passed to the relevant officials for considerations”. Something else for us to follow up on!
Finally, as published, our Annual General Meeting took place last week. It was great to see some members of the community attend this time (it’s usually a very quiet affair), get involved with discussions and offered to help on a regular basis. The meeting covered the following items –
- The Chairman’s Statement – Laurence Hando reflected on the positive achievements of the team since its inception in 2012 and the real successes over the last year (e.g. the publicity event, the video and strap-line, the schools’ involvement and support, the coverage by the media and the positive meetings with politicians, DfT and other authorities.
- The Financial Statement – indicated that we have sufficient funds to continue the campaign and a sum in the savings to contribute, at the appropriate time, to the station design/build costs. Audited report statement to follow.
- The Appointment of the Independent Examiner of Accounts – Joanna Coombes – proposed and approved
- The Election of the Committee – The following were elected; Laurence Hando (Chair), Julie Wilson (Treasurer) and Ted Hand, Paul Turner, Peter Wilson, Lisa Dymock, Geoff Cook, Steve Lucas and John Crook as committee members. Dawn Turner was co-opted as secretary to the Group.
- Open Forum – Discussions around the success of the school children’s visit to The Senedd, working with the ‘Friends of the 65 Bus’ and the very recent positive meetings and publicity. The general feeling is that we are now very close to making the breakthrough that will lead to the building of the station.
All for now.
Paul
