I am totally sympathetic to the concerns that the Member has, and the concerns that have been expressed widely on social media, and the frustration that’s been expressed on social media and in newspapers. I have asked for an urgent piece of work to be carried out and to be presented to me, with recommendations, before the recess, on how the response to the repair of damage can be improved, and to investigate options and costs for providing an improved emergency response to various scenarios, the types of which we have seen recently.

In terms of the actual events themselves, the A55 incident that the Member referred to first led to a road closure. I will be issuing a statement that will detail what happened in the aftermath of that incident. Though officials worked as fast as possible to remove, or try to remove, what was on the surface of the road, it ultimately required further work to be done to clear the surface, but we were able to open the road as soon as possible. The incident that happened earlier in the month on the A55 near Bodelwyddan was a most unfortunate one, and it did involve a vulnerable person on a bridge over the A55 at Bodelwyddan. I’m sure the Member would agree that we can’t compromise when lives are at risk. It is unusual for such an incident as this to be as prolonged as it was, but north Wales took the lead in managing the incident. Likewise, the incident that the Member was caught up in himself last week was managed, in part, by the air ambulance, who requested emergency services, requested closure of the roads—again, we cannot compromise on safety.

In terms of the A5 incident between Halton and Gledrid on 19 June, this occurred when a vehicle struck a parapet on the viaduct itself. Local diversions were put in place, but we could not open the road without suitable protective barriers in place. I, and my officials, have been pressing for work to be carried out urgently so that the road can be reopened. There has been a great challenge in identifying the specialists that are required to carry out that work, in part because of the extraordinary amount of work that’s now taking place on bridges and other facilities in London, but it’s my hope that the diversion will be removed by Friday morning so that that road can reopen. But, as I say again, a written statement is due to be released shortly and I have asked for that urgent piece of work to be brought to me before recess, with a set of recommendations, so that in the future we are able to respond to incidents such as this far quicker and resolve them sooner.