English: Diolch, Llywydd. I'm pleased also to give a minute of my time to James Evans and Jane Dodds also. I should also declare an interest, as I'm also a member of the Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust. The Montgomery canal was once a 35-mile stretch of waterway, weaving from the English border into the heart of mid Wales at Newtown. Volunteers and a range of community groups have and are now working very hard to restore the canal to its status as a corridor through Montgomeryshire communities for visitors, walkers, ecology and trade from tourism. These organisations include the Montgomery canal partnership, the Canal & River Trust, the Friends of the Montgomery Canal, Montgomery Waterway Restoration Trust, Shropshire Union Canal Society and Mid Wales Tourism. I want to explore, briefly, the canal's history, before moving on to talk about some of the canal's benefits to mid Wales. The Montgomery canal in its heyday served communities such as Llanymynech, Welshpool, Garthmyl and Newtown, and the canal was built in stages, from the mid 1790s through to 1819, for transporting materials from local businesses, including agriculture. Through the 1920s and 1930s the canal saw dwindling rates of freight, and was forced to close to boats in 1936. Local people have been passionate about the canal and its preservation for decades. In 1960, the community fought proposals for the use of its route for a bypass - not the Newtown bypass, I should add - and have worked very hard ever since to restore the canal to operational use. Volunteers were instrumental in restoring a 12-mile section of the canal that runs through Welshpool, and there's a picture of just that behind me, if you look closely. And this was reopened by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at that point. Volunteers have been, of course, vital to conserving the locks and substantial numbers of listed structures along the canal's route. Then, late last year, in 2021, a bid by Powys County Council to the UK Government's levelling-up fund secured funding for the restoration of a 4.4-mile stretch of the canal near Llanymynech, and this funding will create two restored sections separated only by half a mile where two road bridges need to be replaced. So, that was the stumbling block at the end of last year. But I'm pleased to say that just this month the Welsh and UK Governments, working together, have signed the mid Wales growth deal, and this deal should further help the canal's restoration, and is likely to fund the rebuilding of the two road bridges needed to bring the two restored sections together. This will then bring the opening of the canal section close to the English border, from just where a 2-mile stretch needs to be restored to connect it to the national network. This land required is in the ownership, of course, of the Canal & River Trust.
Welsh: Diolch, Lywydd. Rwy'n falch hefyd o roi munud o fy amser i James Evans a Jane Dodds. Dylwn hefyd ddatgan buddiant, gan fy mod yn aelod o Ymddiriedolaeth Adfer Dyfrffordd Trefaldwyn. Roedd camlas Trefaldwyn ar un adeg yn ddarn 35 milltir o ddyfrffordd a weai ei ffordd o ffin Lloegr i ganol canolbarth Cymru yn y Drenewydd. Mae gwirfoddolwyr ac amrywiaeth o grwpiau cymunedol wedi bod, ac wrthi, yn gweithio'n galed iawn i adfer y gamlas i'w statws fel coridor drwy gymunedau Sir Drefaldwyn ar gyfer ymwelwyr, cerddwyr, ecoleg a masnach o dwristiaeth. Mae'r sefydliadau hyn yn cynnwys partneriaeth camlas Trefaldwyn, Glandŵr Cymru, Cyfeillion Camlas Trefaldwyn, Ymddiriedolaeth Adfer Dyfrffordd Trefaldwyn, Cymdeithas Camlas Shropshire Union a Twristiaeth Canolbarth Cymru. Rwyf am archwilio hanes y gamlas yn gryno cyn symud ymlaen i siarad am rai o fanteision y gamlas i ganolbarth Cymru. Roedd camlas Trefaldwyn ar ei hanterth yn gwasanaethu cymunedau fel Llanymynech, y Trallwng, Garthmyl a'r Drenewydd, ac adeiladwyd y gamlas fesul cam, o ganol y 1790au hyd at 1819, ar gyfer cludo deunyddiau gan fusnesau lleol, gan gynnwys amaethyddiaeth. Drwy'r 1920au a'r 1930au, gwelodd y gamlas gyfraddau cludo nwyddau yn lleihau, ac fe'i gorfodwyd i gau i gychod ym 1936. Mae pobl leol wedi bod yn angerddol ynglŷn â'r gamlas a'i chadwraeth ers degawdau. Yn 1960, ymladdodd y gymuned gynigion ar gyfer defnyddio ei llwybr ar gyfer ffordd osgoi - nid ffordd osgoi'r Drenewydd, dylwn ychwanegu - ac maent wedi gweithio'n galed iawn byth ers hynny i adfer y gamlas i ddefnydd gweithredol. Roedd gwirfoddolwyr yn allweddol yn y gwaith o adfer darn 12 milltir o hyd o'r gamlas sy'n rhedeg drwy'r Trallwng, ac mae darlun o hynny y tu ôl i mi, os edrychwch yn fanwl. Ac ail-agorwyd y darn hwnnw gan Ei Uchelder Brenhinol Tywysog Cymru ar y pryd. Mae gwirfoddolwyr, wrth gwrs, wedi bod yn allweddol i'r gwaith cadwraeth ar y lociau a nifer sylweddol o adeileddau rhestredig ar hyd llwybr y gamlas. Yna, yn hwyr y llynedd, yn 2021, sicrhaodd cais gan Gyngor Sir Powys i gronfa godi'r gwastad Llywodraeth y DU gyllid ar gyfer adfer darn 4.4 milltir o hyd o'r gamlas ger Llanymynech, a bydd yr arian hwn yn creu dau ddarn wedi'u hadfer o'r gamlas a wahenir gan hanner milltir lle mae angen gosod dwy bont ffordd newydd yn lle'r rhai sydd yno. Felly, dyna oedd y rhwystr ddiwedd y llynedd. Ond rwy'n falch o ddweud bod Llywodraeth Cymru a Llywodraeth y DU, drwy weithio gyda'i gilydd, wedi llofnodi bargen twf canolbarth Cymru y mis hwn, a dylai'r fargen hon helpu i adfer y gamlas ymhellach, ac mae'n debygol o ariannu'r gwaith o ailadeiladu'r ddwy bont ffordd sydd eu hangen i gysylltu'r ddau ddarn sydd wedi'u hadfer. Bydd hyn wedyn yn dod ag agoriad y darn o'r gamlas yn agos at ffin Lloegr, ble mae angen adfer darn 2 filltir o hyd yn unig i'w gysylltu â'r rhwydwaith cenedlaethol. Mae'r tir hwn sydd ei angen ym mherchnogaeth yr Ymddiriedolaeth Camlesi ac Afonydd wrth gwrs.