Welsh government suspends all future road-building plans

The Labour-led Welsh government is freezing new road-building projects as part of its plans to tackle the climate emergency, and an external panel will review all proposed schemes.

The deputy minister for climate change, Lee Waters, told the Welsh parliament on Tuesday: “Since 1990, Welsh emissions have fallen by 31%. But to reach our statutory target of net zero emissions by 2050, we need to do much more.

“In the next 10 years, we are going to need to more than double all the cuts we have managed over the last 30 years if we are going to keep temperature rises within safe limits. That means changes in all parts of our lives. Transport makes up some 17% of our total emissions and so must play its part.

“We need a shift away from spending money on projects that encourage more people to drive, and spend more money on maintaining our roads and investing in real alternatives that give people a meaningful choice.”

Waters told the Senedd: “These aren’t easy issues, they throw up tensions. We have to confront that.” He said money saved by not building new roads would be used to improve existing ones, including creating new bus and cycle lanes and infrastructure for sustainable transport.

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