News & Features

Road Building in Wales Ceased

Posted in General News on Monday, February 20th, 2023

The Welsh Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters has announced that all major road building projects across the country have been terminated to reduce carbon emissions. This decision was made following a year long review during which time 55 road projects were analysed and all of them have either been stopped or reassessed. Three of the highest profile projects that have now been stopped are the third Menai bridge, updates to the A4042 in Wrexham, and the Red Route in Flintshire. Of those projects that have been analysed, only 15 will get the go ahead in the future. Lee Waters said: “Let me be very clear at the outset, we will still invest in roads. In fact, we are building new roads as I speak – but we are raising the bar for where new roads are the right response to transport problems. We are also investing in real alternatives, including investment in rail, bus, walking and cycling projects. Even if we'd wanted to keep progressing all the road schemes in the pipeline, we just do not have the money to do so. Our capital budget will be eight per cent lower next year in real terms as a result of the UK Government's failure to invest in infrastructure. With fewer resources it becomes even more important to prioritise and the Roads Review helps us to do that.” 

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David Telford's Gravatar
David Telford

Monday, February, 20th, 2023

Whilst I appreciate the need to take action on climate change, I’m unsure whether this decision is going to be very helpful to those living in rural communities who rely on the car to get about. The railway network in North Wales is patchy away from the coast. As for getting from North to South Wales, it takes ages on the roads as it is.