Flooding on the A4042

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 2 March 2022.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 1:32, 2 March 2022

Well, yes, as the Member notes, the bridge at Llanellen is a recognised flood-sensitivity site and does sometimes close during storm events or heavy rainfall. The situation has improved there after drainage work was carried out and the road has now opened quicker than previously because of that work. 

The WelTAG process, as you know, is meant to be an open-minded process—it's not meant to start with an outcome in mind. And that's one of the problems we've seen consistently with the way it works, and that's one of the changes we want to bring about—to identify transport problems and work through solutions. But, as you say, the workshop is beginning tomorrow, so let's see where that process takes us.

We do recognise, of course, that, with increasing flooding and wild weather as a result of climate change, we're going to see more storm events and more infrastructure vulnerable to the effects of the weather. And I'm sure Members will have noted the report on Monday from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was a sobering and alarming read, and it told us the situation with climate change was worse than we thought and that there is a rapidly narrowing window of opportunity to build a more climate-resilient society. And one of the questions we have to ask is how we protect our infrastructure in such a context. We have a resilient roads fund this year of £18.5 million. We've asked the National Infrastructure Commission, as part of the partnership agreement with Plaid Cymru, to assess how to minimise flood impact on infrastructure, and the roads review is also looking at the role of maintenance and of infrastructure to deal with the changing climate.