\n The omission comes despite calls for improved transport links for the growing community, which has not had a train station in 60 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said the decision was “a huge missed opportunity.”\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: “Leaving St Athan out of plans for new rail in Wales is a snub to the Vale, and a huge missed opportunity.\n<\/p>\n
\n “St Athan has seen massive development in recent years, and we need the infrastructure to catch up.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Sadly, despite the wheels already being in motion to bring a station back to St Athan, the Chancellor has shelved the plans.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This spending review was a chance to take the station forward and provide more links and more growth in our county.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It\u2019s high time that this government recognised that the Vale of Glamorgan is a crucial part of the south Wales economy that deserves investment.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The UK Government\u2019s recent spending review, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, included \u00a3445 million for rail upgrades in Wales over the next decade.\n<\/p>\n
\n Five new stations are planned for south Wales: Cardiff East, Newport West, Somerton, Llanwern, and Magor & Undy.\n<\/p>\n
\n The funding will also be used to upgrade existing lines and fix level crossings.\n<\/p>\n
\n St Athan, which is said to have seen over 20 per cent population increase between 2011 and 2021, was not included, despite earlier UK Government backing for a business case.\n<\/p>\n
\n Following the recent General Election, the new Labour Government announced a review of transport capital spending, which delayed the project.\n<\/p>\n
\n The nearest stations remain Llantwit Major and Rhoose, both several kilometres from St Athan.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ken Skates, cabinet secretary for transport and north Wales, said: “The spending review will deliver \u00a3445 million of rail enhancements for Wales.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This is made up of \u00a3350 million for this spending review period and \u00a395 million from the 10-year infrastructure strategy.\n<\/p>\n
\n “After years of calling for fair rail funding for Wales, the tap has finally been turned on.”\n<\/p>\n
\n He said the Welsh Government had agreed an “ambitious pipeline of improvements” to address past underinvestment.\n<\/p>\n
\n He added: “We are also working with the UK Government on exciting plans for rail reform that will further strengthen the Wales and Borders network.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The omission comes despite calls for improved transport links for the growing community, which has not had a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-198800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114713530197413498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}