Delays in M4 plans as traffic hold-ups continue
THE Welsh Government has yet to appoint members to the commission which will explore transport options around Newport – more than three months after promising they would be appointed “immediately”.
The commission was announced on June 4 by First Minister Mark Drakeford as he confirmed the Welsh Government had dropped its proposals – on which it had spent £114m – to build an M4 relief road around Newport.
The Welsh Government has declined to give an explanation for the delay but confirmed that the commission’s initial report has been pushed back from December to the spring.
Plaid Cymru said the delay suggested that tackling the problems around the Newport M4 bottleneck was not an “urgent matter” for ministers, a claim the Welsh Government did not deny.
The commission’s timescale was set out on June 5 by transport minister Ken Skates, who announced that Lord Terry Burns would chair the commission.
“I am immediately appointing an expert commission to make recommendations on next steps for the transport network in south-east Wales,” he said.
On the same day, he informed the Senedd: “I can tell members today, regarding the timetable for putting together and inviting the commission to report, that we’ll see members appointed – they will be agreed between the chair and me – before the summer recess. Their work will commence as soon as possible after that date.
“I expect an interim report within six months, but I’ve been very keen and clear in saying to the chair and to the public that if the commission is able to bring forward viable suggestions that can be delivered in the short term, immediately, within that six-month period, then it should do so without delay.”
Reacting to the delay in appointing the commission’s members, Plaid Cymru said the Welsh Government should have given the task to a body which already exists.
Rhun ap Iorwerth AM, the party’s Shadow Economy and Transport Minister, said: “Plaid Cymru have been clear from the start that the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales should be doing this crucial work.”
The delay to the commission “suggests that we were right in calling upon the already-existing NICW body to do this important piece of work,” he said.
“Plaid Cymru have been looking at alternative choices and whilst the government wanted to give the impression that they are treating this as a priority, this evidence suggests it is anything but an urgent matter for Labour.”
Russell George AM, the Conservatives’ Shadow Minister for Business, Economy and Infrastructure, said: “After the shambolic handling of the M4 relief road project and the bitter disappointment the cancellation brought to road-users and businesses in South Wales, the First Minister and his transport minister had one chance to earn back the trust of taxpayers and road-users.
“The exposure of their continued disregard for the needs of people using this major motorway is infuriating. Big businesses are closing along this road, accidents keep happening and the Welsh Government continue to fail people by dragging their heels on the simplest of tasks and attempting to address the problems on the M4.”
We asked the Welsh Government when the commission would be appointed, whether the commission would provide the initial report within three months to meet the original due date, why there had been such a long delay in appointing members, and whether the delay indicated that the Welsh Government no longer regarded the provision of alternatives to the M4 at Newport as an urgent matter.
A Welsh Government spokesperson replied: “We are committed to tackling congestion on the M4. The commission’s work will inform a long-term sustainable solution, building on the short-term measures which have already been announced.
“The appointment process is almost complete. The commission will report back within six months.”
Short-term measures announced in June included more traffic officers in the Newport area, dedicated oncall recovery vehicles and a “driver behaviour campaign to make best use of the available road space”.