Location of Swansea Passport Interview Office is badly thought out says AM

11.49.23am GMT Thu 22nd Feb 2007

The Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for South Wales West, Peter Black, has questioned the planned location for a new Passport Interview Office in Swansea.

The office will be used to interview new adult applicants for UK passports from April and is due to be situated at Axis Court, Riverside Business Park on the Enterprise Zone in Swansea. However, Mr. Black has questioned its accessibility for members of the public without access to a car.

"This is a badly-thought out location," commented Mr. Black. "Public transport to the Enterprise Zone is neither plentiful nor cheap. The Government is already hiking the price of a 10 year passport to pay for the inclusion of a chip which has only a two-year guarantee, and can be read by any criminal with the right technology whom you might happen to walk past, now it appears that they are putting additional obstacles in the way."

"People from large parts of South West Wales will be obliged to travel to Swansea to be subjected to background checks, questioning to test their story against official records, and photographs. Many will seek to travel by public transport only to find an additional hour added onto their journey as they carry out the final leg from the City Centre to the Enterprise Zone. The commonsense solution would have been to locate this office in Swansea City Centre between the bus and railway station. This decision needs to be revisited."