Assurance that work on bypass is going ahead
WORK on the Llanddewi Velfrey bypass will be going ahead after Mid and West Wales MS Joyce Watson received ministerial assurances.
Speaking in the Senedd, Mrs Watson asked to be assured that work was continuing on the Pembrokeshire scheme and that it was not part of the Welsh Government’s freeze on new road projects.
The Welsh Government announced in June that it was stopping all new road building projects in Wales as part of a review to reduce carbon emissions.
Mrs Watson said: “There has been some confusion around the A40 Llanddewi Velfrey bypass, with an awful lot of noise around the fact that it isn’t going forward, yet I drive through there at least twice a week and I see that is not the case.
“I want to end the confusion and get confirmation from you that what I am seeing is correct and it is definitely going ahead, just so that we put other people’s minds at rest.
“This road is vital, as the existing road goes through a very narrow village where it is not safe to walk.
“I once met pedestrians there and almost got touched by a lorry myself, so that assurance would be really useful.”
Deputy Minister for Climate Change Lee Waters explained the background and issues around the project and the current roads review of projects.
He set out the Welsh Government’s commitment and reassured Mrs Watson that, despite claims from political opponents, the road would be going ahead.
He said: “Clearly, this road has been long in the gestation. When we announced the freeze in road building, we had to make a distinction between those that were going to be in scope and those that were going to be out of scope.
“In general terms, we said that those where contracts have been let, or, in the parlance I used at the time, had ‘diggers in
There has been some confusion around the A40 Llanddewi Velfrey bypass, with an awful lot of noise around the fact that it isn’t going forward, yet I drive through there at least twice a week and I see that is not the case
Mid and West Wales MS Joyce Watson
the ground’, would be out of scope.
“There was a further issue with the A40 in terms of the European funding, whether or not we would lose that funding if it wasn’t spent on the scheme, and there was a significant amount of European funding at play.
“So, I announced, and
I said consistently through the summer, that this scheme was not in scope.
“I was then challenged by the local Senedd Member and the local MP to say that there in fact were not diggers in the ground, which would imply the scheme should be in scope.
“Our conclusion is that about a quarter of the total scheme costs has been already spent or committed and is not recoverable, and, in addition, there’s European funding of significant order which would be lost to Wales if we pulled the scheme at this stage.
“We’ve decided that it is too advanced to cease, and the original position stands, that it is out of scope of the review and the road will be going ahead.”
Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire MS Samuel Kurtz had raised the issue last month in questioning Mr Waters.
Mr Kurtz said: “I’m pleased to have finally received the Deputy Minister’s steadfast commitment to the Llanddewi Velfrey bypass.
“Ensuring the bypass project got under way was a key part of my election pledge prior to May’s Senedd election and I’m pleased that after repeated calls following uncertainty the project is going ahead.
“Over the last four months, I’ve received several statements from the deputy minister and his Welsh Government colleagues, all of which seemingly confirmed that the project was progressing.
“However, news broke that the project was paused as part of a mini review to see if the project should be considered as part of the Welsh Government’s Roads Review Panel despite previous assurances.
“While it’s clear that this is no longer the case, it reinforces the need for assurances from Welsh Government to be seen through. This lack of clarity and confusion has caused local residents to rightly question the intention of the Welsh Government.
“However, most importantly, work has been given the green light.”
The Welsh Government also confirmed in the summer that the longawaited Llandeilo bypass was not part of the road building freeze and was going ahead as planned.