Old Green Roundabout petition set for council debate

Newport councillors will hear a petition against planned changes to the city’s Old Green Roundabout later this week.

The roundabout could be turned into a four-way traffic-light junction under national plans to improve transport in and around the city.

More than 1,700 people have signed a petition opposing the project, with its organiser, Michael Enea, arguing the changes are “not wanted by an overwhelming percentage of the public”.

The Welsh Government said previously it wants to create “better connections” to Newport’s bus and railway stations under recommended alternatives to the scrapped M4 relief road project.

It first unveiled proposals for Old Green Roundabout in 2023 and held a public consultation on the designs touted to improve a “quite difficult” road network to prioritise public transport, walking and cycling.

The project is still at the design stage but has long drawn criticism from some opposition figures in Newport, who claim returning Old Green to its previous crossroads-style junction will lead to a revival of traffic congestion levels seen decades ago.

In his petition, Conservative campaigner Mr Enea argued the roundabout was built to ease traffic flow, and believes undoing that work will “take the city back to the 1960s with blocked roads, daily queues and heavy traffic congestion”.

He branded the public consultation exercise a “stitch-up” that didn’t offer participants an option to choose “no change” for the junction.

Mr Enea said “nobody asked for [or] wants the changes” he claims “will kill our much-loved city centre” and risk an uncertain future for a series of colourful murals below the existing roundabout.

Having reached a 100-signature threshold, the petition has qualified for a debate at a council scrutiny committee meeting, scheduled for Thursday March 12.

Ahead of the meeting, a report notes that although the council promoted the consultation in 2023, it has “not yet taken any action in response to it” – and “in particular, no specific proposals have yet been formulated and the matter has not been considered further by the council’s cabinet”.

The Welsh Government said previously a special transport commission had “recommended improvements to the Old Green Roundabout, and connections between the bus and train stations to modernise travel in Newport city centre”.

“The Welsh Government is reforming transport funding so that local leaders are at the heart of decision making on projects like this one,” it added.