3. Statement by the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales: Burns Recommendations — Next Steps

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:37 pm on 8 December 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 3:37, 8 December 2020

Diolch. I won't take it personally, and I'm sure the Minister will appreciate me being succinct. Thank you, Minister, for your statement, and also to thank Lord Burns for this valuable piece of work. There is no doubt at all that we do need a solution to the congestion along the M4 corridor around Newport, and, as you said, we have done for some time. Can I say, Minister, that I think that the time for reviews and commissions—welcome as they are—is obviously at an end now, and the people of Newport and south-east Wales want to see the recommendations of this report implemented as swiftly as possible? So, can I ask that you do that?

The bus and rail infrastructure in that part of the world has been sub-standard for a long time, and certainly not up to a city region standard. So, can you say a little bit more about how you intend to improve public transport in the area, and also to develop the metro system? I know that, in the past, you've spoken about the possibility of a metro hub at the Celtic Manor. With the new International Convention Centre Wales now having been finished, I think that now is an opportune moment to revisit that, and see if we can get that hub, with spokes going out both westwards to Newport station and also up to Monmouth in my constituency, so we can improve those public transport links.

And finally, Llywydd, I appreciate the Welsh Government's position on a relief road, and I also appreciate that these recommendations are around public transport. I am a bit concerned that, with the development of electric cars—particularly with the Government's deadlines now for 2030 as phasing out petrol cars—we are going to see growth in electric cars, and that means that the car vehicle is still going to be used over years to come. So, I think it would be wrong to shut the door on improvements to the existing M4 corridor. Do you have any plans to look at ways that that stretch of road can be improved, perhaps could be turned into a smart motorway? Perhaps there's scope for improvement at the Brynglas tunnels themselves—I know that there have been some lighting improvements and camera improvements over the months and years. But I think that we need both public transport and an engineering solution to the existing stretch of M4, working together to try and improve the transport problems in south-east Wales.