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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:09 pm on 22 June 2021.

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Photo of Altaf Hussain Altaf Hussain Conservative 5:09, 22 June 2021

Deputy Minister, what assessment has the Minister made of the economic impact of not proceeding with plans that were already proposed for construction, supply chain and local economic benefits? Which developments reliant on new roads, junctions or bridges will now be stopped as a result of this announcement, in particular, the impact on the proposed new cancer centre in Cardiff, which can only be accessed by new Welsh Government-funded roads and bridges? And in my own region, the development of the windfarm at Margam mountain requires solutions other than going through the town of Maesteg.

In May, the BBC reported that the UK Government was reviewing its road-building programme because more people were working from home. It would be interesting to see if this is the basis on which this Welsh Government statement is also being made. Welsh Government is responsible for trunk roads and motorways, whilst the local authorities are responsible for local roads. There are some schemes already in progress and planned for development; does this review potentially cancel any of these out? In any review, we did want an assurance that local government would be properly resourced to maintain and fix existing roads to ensure that they are safe and that councils participate in that review. Thank you.