No money for major road projects in Wales, minister says

Plans for a third Menai crossing have been replaced by a review into how to improve congestion between Anglesey and the mainland

The Welsh government does not have cash for major road projects, according to a minister.

Lee Waters said it was a "fantasy to suggest there's this pipeline of [road] schemes that can be afforded".

Plans for a third crossing between Anglesey and the mainland, estimated to cost £400m, have been shelved, along with other major road building schemes, amid environmental concerns.

"It's not happening any time soon," he said. "We haven't got the money."

Mr Waters, the deputy climate change minister, told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement "costs right across the board are going through the roof".

He added: "The cash isn't there so we have to prioritise."

• All major road building projects in Wales scrapped

• Not all bus services can be funded, minister says

Mr Waters wants future road projects to include bus lanes

He said road schemes with "multi-modal corridors" including public transport could be developed rather than building roads purely to accommodate more cars.

It was announced on Tuesday that of 59 road projects, 15 will go ahead, with the rest rejected or revised.

Plans for a third Menai crossing have been replaced by a review into how to improve congestion and the resilience of the current bridges as well as getting people to use other ways to travel.

And the controversial Red Route in Flintshire will not go ahead as planned.

Instead, improvements will be made to the A494 at Aston Hill in Deeside.

"We will never be able to shift the resources to create a quality public transport system when we keep feeding a pipeline of ongoing, really expensive carbon intensive road projects," said Mr Waters.

But former Labour transport minister Ken Skates has said there should never be another review that "ignores citizens" and criticised his party's plans.

Business owners on Anglesey have talked about the need for a third bridge linking the island to the mainland

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd (MS) for Ynys Mon, said a third Menai crossing was a way of introducing all the elements important for the Welsh government, such as public transport and resilience, to Anglesey.

"We have just been without the Menai Suspension bridge for months, proving what I and others have been saying for years: it's a weak, weak crossing and that needs strengthening for the long term," he said.

James Evans, the Conservative MS for Brecon and Radnorshire, said: "No-one is afraid of making difficult decisions because we have to reduce our emissions.

"This is the cart before the horse.

"If you are going to do a policy like this then you need to make sure you have a public transport infrastructure in place to implement."

Mr Waters told BBC Politics Wales that he had hoped to introduce a £1 flat rate for bus fares, costing the Welsh government £90m, but that was no longer possible "in the short term".

He also said financial support for the bus industry introduced since Covid could not continue but conceded that passenger numbers had not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

"We put £150m of taxpayers money to stop the bus companies from going bankrupt," Mr Waters added.

"At some point that has to be tapered away.

"Now the trouble is if the passenger levels have not returned post Covid to how they were, so many of the routes that we are keeping in place just don't have the customers, nor do we have the money to keep doing it," he told Sunday Supplement.