After a few quiet months at the beginning of the year, things are now picking up, and I think we are actually getting somewhere! Here are the items of interest occurring through June and July.
Meeting with the Secretary of State for Transport and North Wales (Ken Skates)
The planned meeting with Ken Skates did take place on the 24th June, but not without a few logistical hiccups. Ted and Laurence were at the Senedd with John Griffiths SM, Peter Wilson and I joined online and Ken ‘Teamed In’ from his car somewhere on route from North to South Wales. The meeting was useful but, as we pointed out to him, the amount of money (£445m) allocated to Welsh Government, following the Spending Review, was unlikely to cover the Relief Line upgrade, the 5 new stations and a few other rail projects in WG’s plans. When asked if ‘Magor’ could be a priority ‘quick win’ (as per our Petition – see below) and be started ahead of the rest of the developments (as it is cheap and doesn’t require significant infrastructure changes), Ken informed us that timing and priorities ‘weren’t his responsibility’. We found this disappointing and took this, possibly incorrectly, as a lack of enthusiasm for Magor & Undy Walkway on his part.
Petition – P-06-1288 Deliver Magor and Undy Walkway Station, part of the Burns Delivery Programme, as a quick win
As it happened, there was a Senedd Petitions Committee meeting planned for a few days later to which I was asked to submit a ‘petitions report’. I reported on the meeting with Ken Skates, expressing our disappointment. I tuned into that meeting ‘live stream’ and noted the committee’s decision was to keep the petition open and request the Secretary of State to provide clarity on the timing of the delivery of the new stations and what discussions he is having with UK government. So that was encouraging! You can view my report to the Senedd here (it may take a few seconds to load from the Senedd) and the minutes of the meeting referred to here.
Annual Walk to School Day
MAGOR group members, in collaboration with school staff and others, have been arranging the Walk to School days for a couple of years now so this year was to be no exception.
Peter Wilson presenting the cheque at Magor School
The aim of the event is for students and parents to gain an understanding of why the planned ‘Magor & Undy Station’ is designated a ‘Walkway’. i.e. being better for the environment and for everyone’s wellbeing. It also, via sponsorship, allows the schools to earn some extra funding. Magor Primary School had 280 pupils taking part (earning £302) with 120 pupils from Undy Primary School also participating (earning £222). Well done everyone!
Laurence Hando presents a cheque to a pupil at Undy School
Our thanks go to the following for helping to boost the sponsorship funding; Cllr. John Crook and Cllr. Angela Sandals, Penny and Simon Kirkham, Ogi Telecoms, HH Business Finance and Cheryl and Steve Bennett.
Catherine Fookes MP – on MAGOR’s side
Since becoming our MP, Catherine has been backing Magor & Undy Walkway at every opportunity. She has had a number of meetings with colleagues in the Houses of Parliament, e.g. Lord Hendy (Minister of State for Transport) pushing for an early delivery of our station. She frequently asks questions in ‘The House’ and most recently has put the question to the Prime Ministers at Question Time (see here on Facebook). MAGOR group met (via a Teams call) with Catherine on 21st July.
Catherine Fookes MP (courtesy Chepstow Beacon)
Again, we reiterated the ‘quick win’ / ‘no brainer’ that Magor & Undy Walkway could be, to which she quite rightly told us that we are preaching to the converted. More importantly though, referring to my report to the Senedd Petition Committee, she gave us strong reassurance that Ken Skates is very much backing Magor – so that was encouraging and somewhat reversed our disappointment from our meeting with him (mentioned above). So, thankyou Catherine for your continued support and we look forward to meeting you and DfT representatives at some point in the future.
Cross-Party Meeting at the Golden Lion (Report by Ted Hand)
MAGOR also had a meeting on the 25th of July at the Golden Lion Magor. The meeting was with cross-party members of the Senedd. The purpose of the meeting was to present the case for Magor & Undy Walkway Station to be delivered first as part of the Burns Report, which recommended five new stations to be opened on the South Wales Main Line, as a way of improving public transport in Southeast Wales.
MAGOR is grateful and would like to thank John Griffiths MS, Peter Fox MS, and Peredur Owen Griffiths SM for taking time out of their busy schedule to meet with MAGOR. The meeting was extremely productive. 
They all reiterated their full backing of the case to deliver Magor & Undy Walkway Station as a priority. The three MSs will take away and evaluate how, as a cross-party of MSs, they can continue to push the business case for Magor & Undy Walkway Station to be given priority in being the first of the five new stations to be built.
So that’s it for July and with parliament now in recess, I’ll do another update towards the end of September.
Have a good summer and thank you for your on-going support.
Paul (and Ted)