Welsh election: Homeworking could ease M4 traffic, says minister

The benefits and drawbacks of an M4 relief road have been hotly disputed

Homeworking could help ease M4 congestion around Newport, a Welsh Labour minister has told BBC Wales.

Plans for a £1.6bn M4 relief road were ditched by the Welsh Government in 2019 on cost and environmental grounds.

Eluned Morgan said ministers had suggested 30% of government staff could work from home, and if other people followed suit it "will alleviate some of the pressure" on the road.

The Tories' Senedd election manifesto pledges to build the relief road.

Appearing on BBC Radio Wales in the run up to the Welsh Parliament election in May, Ms Morgan said the Burns Commission had already come up with a "huge number of alternative suggestions that we could put in place to alleviate the problem" of congestion around the Brynglas tunnels.

But she told the phone-in with Jason Mohammad that the coronavirus pandemic had "made a difference" and "a lot more of us have been working from home".

"Things will change but certainly as a Welsh government we've suggested that we'd like to see at least 30% of those people working for the Welsh government working from home in the future, and if we can roll out to the rest of society that will alleviate some of the pressure," she said.

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Ms Morgan was responding to a caller asking why the Welsh government was not constructing an M4 relief road when "everybody knows it's got to be built".

The minister added: "We have got to take climate change seriously, you know, we've declared a climate change emergency in Wales, that's got to mean something."

In March Boris Johnson's Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said a UK government project would examine the case for the M4 relief road, with Welsh ministers warning the UK government not to "trample on devolution".

Where do the other parties stand?

A Welsh Conservative spokesperson said: "Labour have shown they can't be trusted to deliver and their broken promise on the M4 relief road has held back the Welsh economy and cost jobs.

"Welsh Conservatives will invest in our creaking infrastructure with an M4 relief road, upgrades to the A55 and A40, and thousands of green charging points, ensuring Wales is open for business."

Plaid Cymru said it "rejects the UK government's costly and environmentally damaging proposal for a new M4 motorway relief road south of Newport".

"A Plaid Cymru government would support and facilitate a move to more homeworking by developing a national connectivity strategy and delivering ultra-fast gigabit broadband to all Welsh homes and businesses by 2026, which will offer advantages in time and money for both employees and employers."

A spokesperson for the Welsh Liberal Democrats, which also opposed the relief road plans, said: "The Covid pandemic has given us the opportunity to rethink our transport infrastructure and our commuting habits.

"We are committed to improving public transport infrastructure across south Wales and support plans for the six new railway stations, as identified by the South East Wales Transport Commission, for local and stopping trains between Cardiff and Newport."

The Senedd election takes place on 6 May.

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