6. Plaid Cymru Debate: Alternatives to the M4 Relief Road

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:41 pm on 12 June 2019.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 5:41, 12 June 2019

Car shares have been listed, and, obviously, investing in public transport in a much deeper way than is currently planned, looking at how we investigate free public transport in order to use that incentive—the financial incentive to get people out of their cars. We've heard Professor Mark Barry recently talking about changing working times in different parts of the south-east Wales economy, so that people travel at different times. I was at Imperial Park, the industrial park on the west side of Newport this morning, and it struck me, as so often it does when I go to a business park, it was rammed with vehicles. It was rammed with vehicles, not just in the car parks of the factories and the business units, but all along the roads in, which tells me that something is wrong. People are not being persuaded or being offered different ways of getting to their workplace. So, the innovations are out there.

And we need to strike, I think, a very careful balance or a number of balances. We need to move swiftly but we can't move rashly. The commission that is being set up now, as we've heard from the Minister, will be looking at action that can be taken immediately, but, at the same time, we need right now to be planning for the longer term. We've got to have a focus on finding a response to that road-based issue that has driven this agenda—that is, traffic congestion on the M4 around Newport—but at the same time doing it in a way that takes a wider look at the transport landscape in the Newport area, yes, as a matter of priority, which hopefully we're making clear is important to us as a party, but also at a strategic Wales-wide level. And remembering that, of course, we do have potentially now a release of capital that was ready to go, but can be used on a wider strategic plan. 

We mention in our motion a rapid development of strategy. Again, rapid development of strategy, yes, but not a knee-jerk sticking plaster-type plan. I'll certainly give way.