Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:14 pm on 26 February 2020.
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. It's a pleasure to round up this debate today, on, let's face it, what is a very important subject for this Chamber, for the people of Wales. It used to be said about the late Lord Wyn Roberts that he built more roads in Wales than the Romans, and he did build a fair few, it's true, including, of course, the A470, a major infrastructure project, which you can't imagine Wales without now.
Roads are not the answer to our transport problems—to all our transport problems—but they are a vitally important part of the overall transport infrastructure of this country. And of course, even if you are a keen advocate of public transport—buses are, of course, key to the transport needs of this country—buses need roads to run on, buses require tarmac. So, even the keenest advocates of public transport have to accept that roads have a vital part to play. Of course, it's not just buses, there are trams too, or even the trolleybuses, as we used to have. I can see Dave Rowlands smiling at the mention of the trolleybuses many years ago.
So, it's not just about cars, but cars continue, as Russ George said earlier, to be a major form of transport; and in the future, they will still be, even if they are electric. Yes, we are moving away from fossil fuels, but that doesn't necessarily mean moving totally away from cars, from a personal form of transport, particularly in rural areas where, of course, bus services aren't great. For all of the comments that are made by the Minister and the Welsh Government about attempts to improve the transport in rural areas, buses are still not providing the total coverage we'd like to see.
Now, turning to some of the contributions made during this debate, and as Russ George said in opening, our road network is vital. You also mentioned the M4 relief road, Russ, and the need for a solution to the congestion problems around Cardiff. As our motion says, we look to solve those. A great deal of money was spent on the public inquiry, but with no solution to the congestion in sight. It is hard to see—. As I said in response to Helen Mary Jones's comment earlier, whilst I understand some of the objections to tarmacking countryside and areas of special scientific interest, it's not possible to deal with problems such as those around Newport without some kind of infrastructure solution, and our motion addresses that.
Perhaps we could have an update from the Minister on the commission that has been set up to look at the issues around Newport. I think that that would be timely. We know it's been working for some time now, and there were different stages to that commission.
Helen Mary Jones, you did suggest, which amused me, that our motion is trying to turn the clock back to the 1980s. Well, that's certainly not the intention, Helen Mary, we are just saying that you can't solve all of these problems, certainly in the medium term, by trying to shift all of the traffic on to public transport. There has to be some kind of balance. Russ.