6. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change: Roads review

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:08 pm on 22 June 2021.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 5:08, 22 June 2021

Thank you. Yes, of course, I'd be happy to meet, and that's an interesting example of where a bypass was built, what, 10 years ago now—I remember going to the opening ceremony—where that has created a set of solutions, but simply adds pressure further down the road network, leading to demands for further bypasses. That's the kind of predict-and-provide solution that I was describing earlier that we simply can't keep on doing that approach to transport if we are serious about meeting our climate change targets.

That said, there is clearly a problem in her constituency that is a very real one for people's health and for their ability to move around freely, and that is the dilemma we face. Finding a way through that is going to be the challenge of this Senedd term, and I hope the panel we've set up will help us to do that.

In terms of the 20 mph point, from two years' time, we are committed to introducing default 20 mph speed limits for all residential areas, not just for small schemes, but for a whole area, because we need to reduce the speed of traffic to save children's lives, and as part of the whole changing of the environment, to shift the power away from the car being the king in the community to people being king. And that, I think, will improve people's quality of life overall.