RandomComment wrote:solaris wrote:Jantra wrote:Whatever it is I think it's a good deal for ponty. Sometimes we just have to accept market intervention by the state - they are after all as much a part of the economy as the private sector.
I also don't see the location as being a problem. In the larger urban areas where such a PTE exists the civil servants/private sector managers will all commute to their place of work. Commuting to ponty isn't going to be a problem - and if it is - then it becomes an incentive to get the metro functioning sooner rather than later.
Couldn't agree more....
Ponty only ~25 mins from Cardiff Central and could be less with more services once Metro delivered... that's a lot more convenient than Cardiff Gate Business Park for example.
It might very well be more convenient that Cardiff Gate. But maybe not than Cardiff City Centre?
The point I was making is that while the jobs and investment is clearly good news for Ponty, all else equal:
a) Things might not be "all else equal". Maybe they were struggling to get any other occupier to take up space in this flagship scheme for (Labour-run) RCT?
b) Actually mandating where a (potentially) private sector partner bases its HQ - a specific development in a specific town - is actually a pretty big change from recent policy. And one that might have some costs. If Ponty is genuinely going to be a more convenient option, wouldn't they locate there anyway? The incentive argument is interesting - but its a pretty modest incentive as I'm going to go out on a limb and say the vast majority of people will drive to work in Ponty (yes, Ponty has train and bus links, but not great ones if you want to get from, e.g., Bedwas, or Tonyrefail, or Ystrad Mynach, or Ely, or Cyncoed).
Nowhere has great train connections to Ely, Cyncoed, Bedwas or Tonyrefail as there are no stations in those communities. I think that this is great for Ponty and the Valleys in general. No matter what you say, Pontypridd has very good train connections. Given that it is on the edge of the Cardiff urban area, on tbe A470 and close to the M4, and also in the Cardiff city region I really don't see that there is anything to complain about.
Looking at a map i can see that Ponty town centre is as close to the M4 as is Cardiff city centre.
These decisions to site public sector jobs in the lower Valleys may have been made with one eye on the upcoming elections but they are to be commended. Each time i visit Aberystwyth and see the National Library it fills with me with pride. We should be placing more institutions in Swansea too, it is ridiculous that Cardiff is the focus when it is hardly central in terms of Wales' population or geography.
I find it odd that you, as a Ponty native, are voicing doubts about this. I know a few people from the town (including my chiropracter) and they all want these kind of boosts to Pontypridd. You may be about to trot out your spiel about agglomeration effects and if so, so be it. But all Welsh people should want the valleys to thrive as they are home to a third of our population and represent the heart of English-speaking Wales.