MIKE HEDGES AM WELCOMES THE DECISION TO CANCEL M4 RELIEF ROAD

MIKE HEDGES AM WELCOMES THE DECISION TO CANCEL M4 RELIEF ROAD.

Speaking after asking the First Minister a question following the Announcement, Mike Hedges AM said… ‘I have long called for better use of the Heads of the Valley Road, now that the duelling is almost complete. The new dual carriage way sections will increase the capacity of the A465 Heads of the Valley Road to deal with traffic from the North and Midlands to West Wales and Ireland. It is the right decisions for the Environment – we can hardly call a Climate Emergency one month and then commit to building a new Motorway with all the attendant negative environmental impacts the next. I recognise that this decision might be upsetting to the people living in the Newport area, but I have suggested alternatives which I believe will ease some of the traffic issues around Newport. I hope that some of the funding which will now be available following this decision will be used to improve public transport across the whole of Wales.’

Mike Hedges AM – Can I welcome the decision? The traffic problems around Newport at peak times need addressing, but the M25 gives us an example of what happens with new roads: first of all it gets built, then it gets made wider, then it gets turned into what people have described as the biggest car park in western Europe. I want to put forward some suggestions of what can be done. The Heads of the Valleys could be signposted for those of us coming from the north and midlands who want to go west to Port Talbot. I’ve said this since Edwina Hart was the Minister here. The outside lane on the M4 could be used for through traffic only, so the local traffic stays in the inside lane, the through traffic goes in the outside lane, unless there’s an accident. Why can’t we stagger public sector start times, so everybody isn’t on that road between 8 and 9 every morning, which is when the problems are, and between 5 and 6? I checked this morning at 11:30 and there were no traffic problems there. Finally, can we look at closing some M4 junctions, because that is really—? If you want to know why you’ve got a problem, you have too many junctions close together on two-lane motorways. That gives you a problem.190

Mark Drakeford AM 15:46:27

First Minister of Wales
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I thank the Member for those suggestions. They are of different levels of acceptability, I’ve no doubt, but what they demonstrate is that there is no shortage of practical ideas that the commission will be able to consider, and I’m grateful to the Member for putting his ideas in front of the Assembly today