The chair of the Welsh Government's Roads Review panel has defended the review's methods after Senedd Members criticised its "lack of engagement" with the public, elected representatives and others. The review, which resulted in the mass scrapping of upcoming roads projects in Wales to facilitate a move towards public transport and active travel, was criticised by Senedd members who said "for many residents... private road transport is the only practical transport option".
Last week, members across all parties including First Minister Mark Drakeford voted overwhelmingly for a motion that acknowledged this perceived lack of engagement in deciding which projects to scrap, which passed by 53 votes to 1. Climate minister Julie James, who voted for the motion, defended the scheme, saying it was "not a ban on road building" and "we are taking action here in Wales to actually try to deliver on our net-zero commitments and our wider environmental responsibilities."
Now the chair of the Roads Review panel has weighed in. Dr Lynn Sloman MBE wrote to members of the Senedd on Tuesday, March 14 to clarify the panel's methods and argue that the its approach was "proportionate." The BBC reports that the letter, also published on the Welsh Government website, "reflected unhappiness with how the work of the panel had been portrayed."
Dr Sloman said there was "considerable engagement" during the review, which was "seen by the Panel as an important way of informing our work." She continued, pointing to "over 30 meetings with key stakeholder groups" including local authorities and groups representing business, tourism, freight, logistics, the third sector, professional institutions and young people.
She added: "It has been suggested that the Panel should have consulted the public. However, the Roads Review was a technical exercise, reviewing whether schemes were consistent with Government policy that had been agreed after the schemes were initiated. The policy documents against which the Panel reviewed the schemes, in particular the Wales Transport Strategy, had already been the subject of thorough consultation by Welsh Government.
"Where road schemes had previously been the subject of stakeholder engagement and public consultation, the Panel took account of the findings from these consultation and engagement activities in our own scheme assessments. We took the view that this was better than re-consulting on the same issues."
In the letter, Dr Sloman said when the panel was asked to meet with "other stakeholders," the panel "honoured as many meeting requests as possible." She outlined the meetings the panel had with key groups:
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Dr Sloman also rejected the idea the panel's decisions meant no work needed doing. She wrote: "A Panel recommendation not to proceed with a particular scheme did not necessarily mean that the Panel considered there was no problem to be tackled. Where we concluded that a scheme was not aligned with the policies set out in the Wales Transport Strategy, Net Zero Wales and the Programme for Government, we also considered whether the evidence from stakeholders and previous public consultations showed that there was a “case for change” – that is, a case for an intervention to solve a local transport problem.
"In these instances, our recommendations make clear that further work would be appropriate. This might still involve changes to the road infrastructure. While the Panel would readily acknowledge that there is always more that can be done to involve stakeholders, my view as Chair is that the Panel’s approach was proportionate to the task we undertook.
"It gave us sufficient understanding to make informed judgements about the alignment of schemes with the Wales Transport Strategy, Net Zero Wales and the Programme for Government, and to identify instances where a local transport problem required further work to identify an appropriate solution."
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