A view from Sam Rowlands – Welsh Conservative North Wales Member of the Senedd

Wrexham.com has invited the four North Wales Members of the Senedd to write a monthly column with updates on their work. You can find their updates – along with contributions from the Wrexham and Clwyd South MPs and MSs – here. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

In his first monthly column for Wrexham.com, Welsh Conservative MS Sam Rowlands writes..

Since May 2021, I’ve had the honour of representing North Wales in the Welsh Parliament and I’ve been working hard and campaigning to boost jobs and investment in communities.

I also regularly raise local issues in Cardiff and challenge the Welsh Government to deal with some of the problems facing our country; here is a brief update on three areas I’m focusing on at the moment.

As I’m sure you’ll agree, our Welsh NHS is a national institution that we should all be proud of but at this time NHS services across the United Kingdom are all under immense pressure, and nowhere more so than here in Wrexham. Last year Wrexham Maelor Hospital recorded the worst monthly A&E performance ever seen in Wales despite the Welsh Government receiving an extra 20% per person funding for NHS services compared with health services in Chester and Merseyside.

As your MS I will continue to call on the Welsh Government to tackle the chronic issues facing our Welsh NHS, whilst supporting local people to ensure they and their families receive the health treatment that they deserve, but also pay for through their taxes.

Another key focus of mine is levelling up communities throughout Wrexham and Deeside. Locally I’ve been backing improvements to the Wrexham-Bidston Railway line, increasing capacity and providing a new station on the Deeside Industrial Park.

Along with this, I’ve been supporting the UK and Welsh Government’s efforts to bring the Advanced Technology Research Centre to North East Wales, a national project that will put us at the centre of advanced engineering for years to come.

As many local residents will know from personal experience, thousands of people throughout Wrexham and Deeside have strong connections with our neighbours in England. Every day around 200,000 movements take place across the Welsh and English border, with people working and seeing their friends and family. I have held meetings with Mersey Dee Alliance and other organisations as I think it is vitally important to focus on improving cross-border links and working with our neighbours.

As we all know, Wrexham and Deeside continue to be home to a range of great businesses and household names, such as Airbus, Tata Steel and Plastipak. These businesses do so much in supporting the local economy and providing well-paid and successful careers for local people.

I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside these businesses and the Leader of Wrexham County Borough Council, Mark Pritchard, to help them flourish, whilst calling on the Welsh Government to do more to enable a more business friendly environment. Now is the time to unlock the fantastic potential that we have in North East Wales.

My other focus is in relation to sport. And in recent years, it has been so good to see the success of Wrexham AFC, who are smashing their way through the FA Cup, whilst aiming to return to the Football League. As we saw throughout Covid-19, sport is vital to our local communities and people’s health and wellbeing.

However, it is disappointing that we have just one professional sports team in North Wales and we continue to see disproportionate investment in sports and leisure, focused in South Wales. It is about time more was done to put this right so there can be equal sporting opportunities for all.

As a Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, I’m here to help you with any issues that you may have. Please email me on [email protected], call my office on 0300 200 7267, or visit my website www.samrowlands.org.uk.