Mark Drakeford says building roads ‘does not work’ as…

Mark Drakeford says building roads ‘does not work’ as he defends decision to scrap major Welsh projects

Mark Drakeford has defended the Welsh Government's decision to scrap most major road projects, saying building roads "does not work." The Welsh Government announced in February it was scrapping most road schemes in Wales after a review.

At the time ministers said future road building needed to focus on on minimising carbon emissions and not increasing road capacity, with its decision impacting around 50 projects including controversial plans to expand the A55 in Flintshire, known as the Red Route, and improvements to the M4.

The decision was criticised by some who said many people would still need to rely on their cars in Wales as well as citing issues with public transport. Labour Senedd members including the first minister later voted for a motion criticising the Welsh Government's own Roads Review that recommended the mass cancellation.

Mr Drakeford was asked about the scrapped road projects on Thursday at a press conference with political leaders including Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram, Consul General of Ireland Denise McQuade and Welsh Government Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales Lesley Griffiths.

The first minister said the Welsh Government was "absolutely serious about it [climate change]" and that "you cannot simply go on acting as though the climate emergency does not affect the car, because it does. Of all the areas in which we have been able to reduce carbon emissions, transport is the most stubborn one to bring down," he said.

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"We have to do this in order to shape a transport system for the future in which every time there is a problem, the answer cannot be 'let's build a new road.'

"We know it does not work, it just induces more traffic," he continued. "We will invest in our existing network, we will build new roads where there is a proper safety case for doing so, but the era in which you thought that roads were the answer for every transport issue is over. It has to be in an era of climate change."

Plans for an M4 relief road near Newport were scrapped in 2019 by Mr Drakeford (John Myers)

Mr Drakeford told reporters at the press conference that being serious about climate change and thinking "untrammelled road-building" could continue into the future "don't go together." The new criteria for roads in Wales is that no road project will get funding if it will have capacity for more vehicles than the existing roads or if it will allow those vehicles to travel more quickly. You can read more about that here.

Mr Drakeford this approach would include investment in active travel, public transport, in the road network or existing road network "where it makes sense to do so," highlighting recent research that there was now a 66% chance the earth will pass the 1.5C global warming threshold between now and 2027. He added: "For those being born in Wales today, that is a crisis in their lifetime and we are determined to take that seriously."

The first minister also denied that plans for a third Menai crossing were among the cancelled projects, saying: "The Menai crossing remains a project we will continue to explore. The original basis of the project fell away when the UK Government didn't take forward its plans for Wylfa B because the funding of the third Menai crossing depended fundamentally on the contributions that would come from that new industry. It is not a scrapped project, it is project we continue to work at and as the opportunities arise we will look at again."

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