7. Plaid Cymru Debate: M4 Corridor Decision

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:27 pm on 28 November 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 4:27, 28 November 2018

We had a manifesto that was not to build a particular route, but was to build a route that would deal with the congestion issue. We also have in our manifesto a whole series of commitments in terms of the metro and integrated transport, and my friend Lee Waters also makes a very valid point in terms of the affordability issue of something that started off at several hundred million to something that now has massively increased.

I think it is perfectly right that we do have to have a solution in terms of Newport, and we have to look very closely at what that is. I think my view is that building a 12-mile stretch of motorway at this particular cost is not actually a solution to anything in the long term. I mean, the fact of the matter is that you don't deal with obesity by buying a bigger pair of trousers [Laughter.]. We have to start looking at realistic alternatives. The most important thing, I think, is how committed to an integrated public transport system—. And I think that is where the debate is going to come. It's going to be about vision, it's going to be about our belief in and reinforcement of the future generations Act and of our environmental legislation. So, when we come to this matter early next year, it's going to be about our vision, it's going to be about the sort of society we want and it's also going to be about a modern future transport system, and whether that is the priority that we really want to invest in, or do we want to look at the old solutions—to throw money at it and actually achieve no solution whatsoever?