From Free School Meals to the local economy: the local MS has shared a New Year message of hope.
Siân Gwenllian MS represents the Arfon constituency in Senedd Cymru and is also Plaid Cymru’s lead designated member in the Co-operation Agreement with the Welsh Government.
She has said that despite economic woes and industrial action, there are reasons to be hopeful after a difficult year.
She said:“2022 has mounted many challenges.
“We are still recovering from Covid, we finish the year in recession, we’re living through a dreadful cost-of-living crisis and there will be industrial action across the country.
“But it’s important that we find reasons to be hopeful whilst looking back at the year that’s gone.
“Thanks to Plaid Cymru’s influence, all primary school pupils in Wales are now set to receive free school meals, with the expansion having started from September of this year.
“We are now working towards free school meals for all ages.
“Also, it was announced this year that free childcare for all two-year-olds will be introduced across Wales as part of our Co-Operation Agreement with Welsh Government.
“In Gwynedd, 40 per cent of the houses that go on the market every year are now bought as second homes.
“For that reason, constituents in Arfon will celebrate that this year, thanks to Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Government set out a new package of measures to address high numbers of second homes.
“Plaid Cymru at local government level will now use a range of planning, taxation, and property levers to tackle the issue of second and unaffordable homes.
“Also, there is a steady improvement in the local economy in my constituency of Arfon.
“As I identified on the floor of the Senedd recently, the city of Bangor is rapidly establishing itself as a de facto national centre of health education, with promising developments with the medical school as well as the Bangor Dental Academy.
“In other health news, a pioneering new Stroke Unit has been established within the constituency.
“Furthermore, Gwynedd Councillors have just approved plans which will lead to the first business being established Parc Bryn Cegin in Bangor.
“At the start of this year I asked Vaughan Gething MS, the Welsh Government’s Minister for Economy when the first job would be created at Parc Bryn Cegin.
“After more than twenty years of abandonment, we will soon be able to point to employment in the park.
“At the other end of the constituency, The Northwood Hygiene factory in Penygroes that closed in 2020 is to be given a new lease of life as a decarbonisation hub that will bring 130 jobs to the area.
“In nearby Llanberis, an announcement made at Siemens Llanberis of 100 new high-quality shops gave us cause to celebrate.
“Moreover, in Arfon we’re lucky to have a wealth of community projects across the constituency, and in the past year I’ve visited initiatives in Dyffryn Ogwen, Dyffryn Nantlle, Bangor, Caernarfon and in the smaller villages.
“There is a powerful sense of community spirit in the area, and I have no doubt that we’ll see more positive change at grassroots level in Arfon in the new year.
“Challenges remain, of course. My colleague Hywel Williams MP and I understand that there is real concern about the cost-of-living crisis, and we have produced an online booklet to signpost constituents to help.
“We live through a period of industrial action as workers across the country are calling for fair pay and safe working conditions, and I was privileged to join the picket line outside Ysbyty Gwynedd in my constituency.
“Arfon in particular faces a battle to retain the Welsh Air Ambulance’s services locally, and I will continue to work with local partners to safeguard the service.
“Nevertheless, as the new year approaches, I will continue to work with the local area’s energetic and ambitious group of councillors, many of whom were elected for the first time this year.
“I urge local residents to keep an eye out for advice surgeries held in communities across Arfon.
“But for the meantime, I’d like to wish local people a very happy and peaceful new year.”
