<--  Project Impacts - Regeneration 

The re-opening of the Ebbw Valley line to passenger trains will encourage inward investment and employment opportunities - the railway will increase the size of the labour pool who will be able to access jobs within the Valley.  Strategies for the short to medium and medium to long term have been developed.

Short to medium term strategy

The short to medium term strategy will address issues such as training and skills, educational attainment, job search, new business start-ups, access to technology and the attraction of commercial and non-commercial investment. Much of this will involve investment in people but this investment will pay off only if the population has sufficient confidence in the future to remain in the Ebbw Valley. Part of building future confidence involves specific new investment.The rail link to Cardiff and Newport is a key element especially as it offers the prospect of access to employment. This is essential if people are to be motivated to stay in the area and to participate in the regeneration initiatives currently being planned.

Medium to long term strategy

The medium to long-term rationale for the railway is principally to enhance accessibility between the Ebbw Valley and Newport and Cardiff. This would enable the Ebbw Valley to share in the benefits of positive economic changes that will take place in the wider region over the next 5 to 10 years. It is recognised that the potential to take advantage of accessibility improvements in terms of employment has been limited in the past by a combination of weaknesses in skills and work experience – the skill base is narrow, residents tend not to travel far to work and the economics of travel to work are unlikely to be attractive to those who are able to access only low paid employment.

The medium to long term strategy plans to address these issues by enabling the sustained regeneration of the sub-region, by enhancing the competitiveness of the Ebbw Valley and by measures to address skills issues. However, the key role of the railway in the short term is to demonstrate that there is a commitment to sustaining and developing the Ebbw Valley.

Role of the railway

In both the short and medium/longer term, improved intra-regional accessibility will offer greatest benefits in conjunction with the other key policies of the regeneration strategy, especially those aimed at improving skills of Ebbw Valley residents. This will encourage wider job searches and enable a proportion of Ebbw Valley residents to access better paid jobs. The ability to enter higher paid employment is important especially where Ebbw Valley looks to Cardiff for employment.

In the medium to longer term, greater labour demand will be generated from within the sub region as well as from outside – especially Cardiff. This labour demand will include higher skilled jobs in the service sector and lower/medium skilled jobs in a substantially revitalised and expanded Newport City Centre.