Wednesday 15 February 2023

Wales stops road projects for the climate

Wales stops road projects for the climate

Environmental concerns have been cited as the reason for all major road building projects in Wales to be stopped.

The Welsh government has come out and said that any future roads will have to meet stringent standards and criteria.

These include not increasing carbon emissions, the number of cars on the road or allowing for higher speeds to take place.

The proposed third Menai bridge that was set to be built is now being cancelled in line with these changes.

One Labour Senedd member openly questioned his party’s decision to make the move, with Alan Davies stating: “If we're going to take services away from people in terms of distance, then what we have to be able to do is to provide the public transport options available for people to reach those services, and that hasn't happened.”

Some smaller scale projects are still set to go ahead, such as improvements to the A487 and A4076 – however, large-scale changes and the building of new roads will not be approved.

Lee Waters, Deputy Minister for Climate Change, responded: “We will not get to net zero unless we stop doing the same thing over and over. None of this is easy but neither is the alternative.”

He called for the government to take more action to defy the choices it’s made for the last 70 years.

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

Trending Articles