In his regular blog for Caerphilly Observer South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle gives his take on recent news.
New M4
The Transport Minister Edwina Hart certainly put the cat among the pigeons with her announcement last month that the Welsh Government was pressing ahead and spending £1bn of tax-payers’ money on the M4 relief road.
It is staggering that the Welsh Government is prepared to throw so much of your money and my money on this road. And you can bet that the £1bn tag being talked about now will be substantially higher, if it is ever built.
This road is very bad news for Caerphilly County Borough – as well as the rest of Wales outside the M4 corridor – because it will mean there will be reduced government money for infrastructure projects.
There is no bottomless pit of finance, so areas like ours are bound to suffer. How can this spending be justified?
Of course, congestion on the M4 needs to be addressed but the government choose not to go for the much cheaper alternative known as A48 blue route which can be delivered five years earlier.
It was also shocking that the Welsh Government made the announcement without allowing for proper scrutiny and with no business case. It was also interesting that four Labour Assembly Members were critical of their own government’s action.
I wonder with all this money proposed for a new road what impact it will have on plans for a South Wales Metro, a vital scheme in efforts to improve public transport. I don’t believe the Welsh Government has got its priorities right.
And as a member of Gwent Wildlife Trust, which attracts 100,000 visitors annually to the Gwent Levels, I’m also very concerned about the impact this road will have. It will undoubtedly lead to a reduction in visitors and an impact on the local economy.
What sort of the legacy are we leaving to our children and grandchildren?
Meetings
Although the Assembly is in recess, I’ve had a series of meetings, including a very productive one with Aneurin Bevan Health Board catching up on a range of issues such as new proposed GP surgeries, including one’s in the county borough such as at Llanbradach.
I broadly agree with Linsay’s opinion of the M4 relief road. It would be cheaper to enlarge the choke points, including the Brynglas tunnel, on the existing road. I feel that we are going to lose a lot of open countryside for very little gain and the certain loss of other necessary improvements such as the upgrading of the rail system.
I completely agree that the announced cost will bear little relation to the money we will have to fork out to build this white elephant.
Do these people who make these decisions actually drive at all, and do they regularly use this stretch of the M4. It appears to me to be a rather poorly managed section of motorway with too many junctions too close together and far too many lane changes in a very short distance. The speed restrictions aren’t used efficiently, I have driven through the Brynglas tunnel and no matter what time of day it is there are constant speed restrictions, even at 2am in the morning when I was the only one on the motorway there was a 50mph restriction in force – totally ridiculous. Some junctions could be closed to ease congestion, there are other options than spending the entire budget for Wales and tearing up beautiful countryside.
Drivers lack of proper motorway training doesn’t help the congestion, most leave it too late to get into lane and the majority can’t even join or exit a motorway correctly, there should be an addition test for motorway driving and only those who pass should be allowed onto the motorway – this would ease congestion and raise plenty of money for road improvements.
Dear me, I cannot believe what these ANTI M4 or Anti Change Merchants are talking about!! The M4 relief road as it is termed, has not just sprung onto the agenda as something that needs to be urgently address, it is subject that should have been addressed decades ago!!!
Today we have Scotland deliberating over independence, the North of England talking about improved rail and road infrastructure projects, together with improved airport developments, and in Wales we are still deliberating over something that has held our economy back for 20 / 30 years……and as we keep slipping, the rest of the country seem to be moving forward.
Do the sceptics know where Wales sits in economic rankings….we are continuing to fall behind. What we need is some serious people that are serious in taking Wales forward i.e. like most developing countries, invest in infrastructure and investment will follow.
Not only should we be tackling the M4, we need to sort out the link road to the airport (International Airport?), reopen the Severn barrage debate and take advantage of one of natures second highest rise and fall tides in the world and then links within Wales. I nearly forgot, address the issue of the Severn Bridge toll fares…………..all of which are strangling the Welsh economy!!!
All this will attract investment, providing jobs and raising taxes, which can be spent on social projects like housing, hospitals, and social investments that will make Wales a thriving place to live, work and visit.
I guess I am talking rubbish and building a Wales that we can leave to our children and their children, for generations to come……..maybe we can all follow Lindsay instead…..he seems to be the only one with the oillamp, without any oil!!!
I am not anti change, nor do I think Lindsay is, there is merely a debate on the best use of money to improve road and rail links. I am not convinced that building a new road across the Gwent levels is the best option.
With reference to the Severn Barrage I would go further than re-opening the debate, I urge that it gets built as soon as possible. It is madness to continue to let all the free energy of the tidal flow in the Severn estuary to go to waste while at the same time encourage Chinese designed nuclear reactors to be built. Something wrong with government policy here.
The money for the barrage should be all public money and the electricity generated should be publicly owned. I have visited the Hoover dam in the USA several times and it is a marvel of design and construction. All completed with public money and still earning the US government millions of pounds annually in electricity sales, eighty years later.
Keep day care centres open:
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/caerphilly-borough-council-keep-all-day-centres-open?share_id=wnquWzlbkg&utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_false
Thanks for the comments Richard, it is reassuring that we agree on the barrage, what I am pointing out is that the problems are greater than just the M4. However, the M4 should be the no 1 priority, as it has lingered on and on.
Most users who travel over the bridge for work, do not care whether the M4 goes North, South or its current route……quite simply it needs doing!!! I would state if the existing route bottlenecks is the option taken, a relief road will also need to be put in place in order for the works to be undertaken.
Lets sort the M4 and then the other infrastructure projects, which will attract investment and make Wales a place to want to do business, which will help to answer Jan’s issue below!!!
If we don’t do this, we will certainly need more day centres, as Jan states!!!!
The M4 relief road is something that Sourh Wales has needed for years. It is a limiting factor to inward investment in South Wales. To realise the importance of this route, you will only have to see the impact it has when restrictions are placed on during the NATO conference. You can improve smaller roads, but if the arterial route in does not function effectively, neither will they. I’m all for protecting the Gwent leveller, but feel that development is for the greater good and is essential for the economy of South Wales.