3. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Climate Change: The Roads Review and National Transport Delivery Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:09 pm on 14 February 2023.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 3:09, 14 February 2023

Thank you. I respect Jack Sargeant's point of view, and I was pleased to meet with him and Mark Tami to talk through the issues. I understand the strength of feeling there is in the local area to address the air quality concerns, and that is why we have decided to look at Aston Hill as a separate case. We will look with the local authority to develop solutions that will bring some short-term benefits to that area. In terms of immediacy, I would point out that the Flintshire red route would not have been immediate. The construction time for that—even if the money had been available, which it is not—would have been very considerable. So, I don't think that is fair.

I know it's been a long-running debate, but what's very clear from these schemes—. When you look at the conclusions of the roads review and each of the panel's suggestions, it goes through the detailed process of how these decisions have been made. In every single case, at the first stage of the options appraisal, there were a slew of other schemes that could have been developed that would have addressed the transport problems in the area, at stage 1. When it got to stage 2, all but the road options, typically, were removed and the engineers focused on taking forward the road option. So, I believe there are other ways of tackling many of these problems short of building a large, expensive, climate-damaging, biodiversity-damaging bypass. I think we need to separate out the issues of air quality that we hope to do something about from the broader case for a traffic-inducing road. I will continue to work with him to understand and address the needs of his constituents, but in a way that is consistent with the climate emergency.

I'll say again to Members that I've often heard many people saying, 'We agree with the principles of the roads review, but in the case of my constituency, there are exceptional circumstances.' I understand that, and that applies to my constituency too. I understand the pressures we all face from a set of expectations and a set of behaviours and investment decisions over 70 years in terms of the way to deal with transport problems. But if you read the report and if you draw through our own commitments on net zero and how that applies to transport, the slowest of all sectors to respond, we should all surely recognise that we need to do something different.