Tag: welsh government

• In search of the least best solution

  The new but very old-fashioned Welsh Government is still scratching around for a solution to congestion on the M4 at Newport – after ruling out demand management measures before its latest review had even started.

  The BBC reports:

  Junctions on the M4 in Newport could close, and a new bridge built across the Menai Strait, as part of Welsh government plans for two notorious transport bottlenecks.
  
  It will also begin an 18-month project looking at a range of “roads-based” options for the M4, that could include a new motorway or expanding the Brynglas Tunnels.

  

  In a feat of extraordinary chutzpah, deputy minister for transport Mark Hooper announced the 18-month discussion with the words:

  People want action, not endless discussion.

  According to the Welsh government, the review carried out by Arup

  (more…)

  2026.10.08

• Petition calls for M4 junction closures to be taken off the table

  Unsurprisingly, suggestions that the Welsh Government might implement junction closures as one way of addressing congestion on the M4 at Newport has received a degree of pushback.

  The South Wales Argus, which carried the interview with transport minister Mark Hooper in which he declined to take the option “off the table”, now reports:

  A petition urging ministers to keep motorway junctions around Newport open has gained huge momentum in recent days.
  
  The petition, started by Newport Labour, has received more than 2,600 signatures since it started, with thousands of Newport residents sharing their support for the campaign.

  The position of Newport Labour party is interesting, given that it was the previous, Labour-led, Welsh Government that took the idea of relief road “off the table”, where it remains.

  The Argus reports the local party as saying that “all options that serve the city positively. Rail, roads, public transport, active travel” should be in the mix, “including a relief road, which Newport Labour has always supported”.

  

  In the meantime, Hooper has met Lord Burns, head of the 2020 South East Wales transport commission, “to share views on the future direction of transport policy and investment across Wales”.

  (more…)

  2026.08.24

• On the table, off the table

  The new Welsh Government seems to be moving towards a plan for managing congestion on the M4 at Newport that includes closing junctions as well as public transport improvements.

  The South Wales Argus reports:

  Motorway junction closures could be on the table as part of plans to tackle long-standing congestion problems, as the Welsh Government refuses to rule out any closures.
  
  Speaking exclusively to the South Wales Argus, Deputy Minister for Transport, Mark Hooper, refused to rule out the closure of M4 junctions around Newport.
  
  But while he said all options remain under consideration as part of a broader strategy to address traffic issues in the area – that does not include reviving plans for a new relief road scrapped by then First Minister Mark Drakeford, which remains firmly off the table

  

  In many ways this isn’t any further on from what the paper reported in June, but we seem to be quite close to the announcement of a plan, so not ruling something out becomes more of a hint that it is very much on the table.

  The Argus story notes that Hooper is promising an announcement “in the autumn” and that he will be “working it through over the next couple of weeks”.

  It continues:

  (more…)

  2026.08.18