The Welsh Conservatives made an error in figures they published suggesting the Welsh Government lost more than half a million pounds on homes bought up for the scrapped M4 relief road. Although money was lost on some of the property sales, there was a small net profit overall.
WalesOnline has corrected this article which we initially published after Natasha Ashgar, the Tory MS for south east Wales, raised the issue in the Senedd. The plans, which would have seen a three-lane motorway built on part of the Gwent Levels in Newport, were first mooted back in the 1990s but were blighted by political infighting, delays and inquiries before first minister Mark Drakeford said in June 2019 that the project would not go ahead. By then the costs were estimated to have ballooned to over £1bn.
It was previously reported that more than £15m was spent on compulsory purchase orders for 29 properties in areas where the road was to be built since 1995. Ms Asghar had accused the Welsh Government of "scandalous disregard" for public money after claiming it has made huge losses on the homes bought in that period.
