Date: Wed 5th November, 2008
Venue:
Number of Guests Attended: 80
There was no shortage of fireworks at Insider’s debate on the North Wales economy at Deganwy on 5 November.
Barack Obama’s victory in the US presidential election, farming, broadband and traffic blackspots on the A55 were just a few of the topics that came up for discussion.
Jeremy Salisbury, chairman of CBI North Wales and director of Gardner Salisbury, spoke for many when he said he hoped Obama’s victory would boost the world economy, adding: “We in north Wales have to be prepared to get on the back of that and go for it. My only slight concern is whether he is going to be a protectionist for the States. I hope that doesn’t happen.”
A question on agriculture brought a plea from David Lea-Wilson, director of Anglesey Sea Salt, for more flexibility in the way firms are classified. He said: “Farmers get very generous rates release for their agricultural buildings, but as soon as you deviate just a little bit outside agriculture, you suddenly qualify for the rates. Even making sea salt is not classified as an activity to do with marine environment or to do with agriculture - it’s rated as a chemical industry.”
The planned Fibrespeed broadbank link for north Wales elicited a range of views, with Shanti Chakravarty, professor of economics at Bangor University, the most sceptical “Without looking at the alternative expenditure plans, I thinking it would be unwise just to jump on the bandwagon saying “this a good thing”,” he said.
But Ian Williams, director, North Wales, Enterprise and International Business Wales at the Welsh Assembly Government, insisted it was vital for the region’s future. He said: “In my opinion the rural area of north Wales will die off unless we future-proof it with the kind of economy that exists in 50 years’ time. It would be very short-sighted not to invest in Fibrespeed and increase broadband connectivity.”
A show of hands showed most of the audience thought transport in north Wales could be improved. Sasha Wynn Davies, head of economic development at Isle of Anglesey County Council, said that her authority was in talks over arranging new air links from Valley airport to Ireland and England.
She added that a new faster train service from Holyhead to Cardiff would help, and that efforts would be made to bring construction traffic for Wylfa power station through Holyhead if a replacement for the nuclear reactor gets the go-ahead.
The event was sponsored by Isle of Anglesey County Council, Conwy County Borough Council and the Welsh Assembly Government, and was organised in association with Highland Airways.
