3. Will the First Minister make statement on tackling traffic congestion in South Wales Central? OAQ52520

The metro is one obvious example of how that is being done. We also have our pinch points programme and the improvements to public transport I've already mentioned, and we're supporting local authorities to address key local issues.

First Minister, we all know that you are making traffic congestion worse in Cardiff rather than tackling it. Thousands of houses are being thrown up right now—right now—along Llantrisant Road, for example, in the west of the city, where there's only a single-carriage road. The metro is at some point in the future. You're also planning on building a motorway, when you can make a decision, but that traffic will then end up on local roads. Now, in this region, in this city, especially in the west along Llantrisant Road, traffic jams already go on for miles. There is no metro in place, there is no public transport in place, there's no actual plan when you speak to developers. So, my question is: what are constituents meant to do, and what advice do you have to those people stuck for hours and hours and hours in jams? And I would appreciate it, this time, if you could just take that little bit of care and actually address the question: what are my constituents supposed to do? 

Well, I expect—. First of all, the issue of development is a matter for Cardiff council, not for the Welsh Government. Secondly, we do expect councils to put in place plans for sustainable transport, particularly for active travel. I note the intention of Cardiff council, for example, to look at five cycling superhighways, which I think is an excellent idea for the city. He is right to say that we cannot keep on building houses without there being an active transport plan that supports those developments; we can't rely on the roads in Cardiff forever and a day to take the traffic. But these are matters that have to be addressed in the course of the planning process. 

Congestion straddles the whole of South Wales Central. Just a distance from this Chamber, the village of Dinas Powys exists, the largest village in Wales. On the one side you have Barry, the largest town in Wales, and the capital city falls the other side of it. For some 40 years, there's been a campaign to have a bypass built around the village of Dinas Powys, and successive campaigns, sadly, have come to nothing. Do you identify with the issues around congestion in the village of Dinas Powys, and the blight it puts on people's lives there, especially with air pollution and noise in particular, where that road passes several schools—primary schools, I might add—and will you identify this as a top priority for the Welsh Government, and work with the Vale of Glamorgan Council to take forward the plans that are currently being discussed? 

This is primarily a matter, of course, for the Vale of Glamorgan Council, but we did award funding of £20,000 in 2016-17 and £80,000 in 2017-18 to the council towards a study looking at the options to resolve traffic congestion in Dinas Powys. The scope of that work was extended in April 2018, and I understand the Vale of Glamorgan Council is funding additional work. Consultation on the next stage is planned for this September—September 2018. 

Would the First Minister agree that the metro plans for two new stations in my constituency of Cardiff North—Gabalfa/Llandaff North is one of them, and the other one will go in the centre of the new build of the Velindre cancer centre—that these will aid traffic congestion in the city of Cardiff? 

Yes, I do. I think it's hugely important—. There is no way that Cardiff city centre can plan its way out of traffic congestion simply by roads; that's self-evident. It is why, of course, we're making the investment in the metro. What's important about the metro is its extendability, so that, in the future, new stations can be opened up with light rail to provide better alternatives than people have at the moment in terms of public transport, whether it's light rail, whether it's buses, whether it's heavy rail. And, of course, there's a need to make it easier for people to cycle. There's no doubt in my mind that a substantial proportion of cyclists—apart from the dedicated few, and I know we have some in this Chamber—don't feel comfortable about sharing the road with heavy vehicles. So, anything that can be done to make it easier for people to cycle to work via separate highways for cycles I think is something to be welcomed.