Can I thank the Member for his questions, and say first of all that the metro and the M4 are complementary projects? We know that the metro programme is designed to be able to take people between the Valleys and between the major urban centres such as Cardiff, whereas the M4 caters for people who are coming in and out of Wales and travelling in an east-west direction. One is a vertical solution, one is a horizontal solution; together, they form a package that will deliver economic prosperity for the whole of the nation.

Now, in terms of alternatives, for example, we know that main line electrification will provide less than 1 per cent reduction across the M4 in peak travel times, and therefore we cannot solely rely on rail and metro solutions to alleviate the current congestion that’s on the M4. But it will be for the independent inspector to scrutinise and carry out the assessment of the M4 proposals, including the predicted travel flow in the years to come. It’s work that we’ve done, but it’s for the independent inspector to ensure that that work is fully scrutinised on an independent basis.

And in terms of the environmental work—well, development work—one of the reasons that we’ve had an envelope of spend to develop this programme is because development work has been essential to comply with UK and European environmental legislation, such as the environmental impact assessment regulations and the habitats directive—utterly imperative. And it had to be done to follow the statutory process of the Highways Act 1980 and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981.