Part of 4. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:43 pm on 3 November 2021.
Thank you very much, Deputy Minister. Well, the Valleys taskforce, which was chaired by yourself some years ago, recommended the dualling of the Heads of the Valleys road, in a project that, in total, will have cost over £1 billion, enabling tens of thousands of vehicles to travel at 70 mph on that road every year. Now, amongst the arguments put forward for that dualling was the fact that it was possible to link with motorways in the midlands, causing more vehicle transport. By coincidence, the work to dual Dowlais Top to Hirwaun started a month before you announced your moratorium on roads, which, of course, meant that this very expensive plan would not come under the remit of that moratorium.
So, we have one plan here, the Llanbedr scheme, which costs £14 million, with half of it paid by the EU, for 1 mile of road to serve the population of Llanbedr and the Meirionydd coast, and there's another proposal, costing £0.5 billion, namely the Dowlais Top to Hirwaun stretch, which was paid through a new PFI programme for 11 miles of road in the Heads of the Valleys. Which plan do you think will be most damaging to the environment?
And finally, if we are to accept recommendation 10 of the report, which is to build a link road with a speed limit that is far reduced, which according to the report would be very expensive indeed, then how will that be funded, and will you compensate the council and fund the cost with the loss of £7.5 million in European funding that isn't going to be available because of this? Thank you.