Taith Joint Board

The Taith Joint Board is a legally constituted joint committee of the six north Wales county authorities for the purpose of developing and implementing actions and strategies for transport in north Wales. It was formally established on 31 March 2004. Prior to that date it was an informal consortium of the six north Wales counties (Anglesey, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, and Wrexham County Borough). Taith had originally been the Transport Sub-Committee of the North Wales Economic Forum and adopted the "Taith" name and style in 2002. Although Gwynedd is a member of Taith, the former Meirionnydd district of Gwynedd is included in the mid Wales "TraCC" transport consortium which covers Powys and Ceredigion also. The boundaries of the transport consortiums in Wales (though not the names) were formalised by "The Regional Transport Planning (Wales) Order" of the National Assembly for Wales in 2006. Apart from Taith and TraCC there are two other transport consortiums in Wales - SEWTA and SWWITCH

Aims and Objectives

The aims of Taith are the development and adoption of a transport strategy and subsidiary strategies for the Region embodying the following principles of extending the multi modal infrastructure of the Region, supporting sustainable improvements to the level of commercial and economic activity in the Region,enhancing the safety and quality of transport services and infrastructure within the Region,supporting a transport system meeting the needs of all the Region’s residents and promoting improvement to transport links and policy integration with other areas outside the Region.

To achieve these aims, Taith undertakes the development, review and implementation from time to time of a Regional Transportation Strategy in accordance with rules and requirements established by Welsh Assembly Government and agreed with the six county authorities. The then Welsh Assembly Government made available funding under its Transport Grant Programme to Taith for improving public transport infrastructure across north Wales. The programme for 2008 - 2009 was valued at £5.3 million. The Transport Grant system was replaced by a Regional Transport Plan system with funding allocations on a three year rolling programme basis from 2010-2011.

Ministerial Advisory Group "Phase Two Report on Transport" (July 2009)

The future of Taith and the other Regional Transport Consortiums in Wales was called into question by the Ministerial Advisory Group Report of July 2009. This Group, appointed by and reporting to the Deputy First Minister and Transport Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones stated that "The organisational arrangements for transport are unnecessarily complicated and the regional transport consortia represent an unnecessary tier in the structure." (Report summary).(http://wales.gov.uk/docs/det/publications/090715ministerialadvisorygroupphase2reportontransport.pdf)