The Welsh government has recommitted itself to pause road building.
The government paused new road projects in 2021 while an independent panel undertook a review.
A 327-page review – The Future of Road Investment in Wales – followed, and the Welsh government has now responded.
It has decided only new road schemes that meet four key considerations should get the green light.
These are: reducing carbon emissions by supporting a shift to sustainable travel; improving safety with small-scale change; adapting to the effects of climate change; and providing connections to jobs in areas of economic activity while maximising sustainable transport use.
The road review panel report also warned that building houses in “highly car-dependent locations” was "not consistent" with Planning Policy Wales 11 (PPW11).
PPW11 says housing, employment, retail, and leisure facility projects ill served by walking and cycling routes, and public transport, should not be allocated for development.
Raising the bar
Speaking in the Senedd, deputy minister for climate change Lee Waters said the government was still building roads, “but we are raising the bar for where new roads are the right response to transport problems”.
Waters added: “We are also investing in real alternatives, including investment in rail, bus, walking and cycling projects.
“Of course, doing that in an age of austerity is very challenging.”
Waters accused the UK government of slashing Welsh capital investment budgets by 8% in real terms, not giving it its share of HS2 investment, and pushing bus services “over a cliff edge”.
He argued: “Even if we’d wanted to keep progressing all the road schemes in the pipeline we just do not have the money to do so.”
The road review panel has looked at 48 road schemes and said 17 meet the new policy criteria, but 31 do not.
