Conservative Senedd Member calls for motorway between the north and south of Wales
A Conservative Senedd member has called on the Welsh Government to build a motorway between the north and south of Wales.
Aberconwy MS Janet Finch-Saunders said that she was disappointed that plans to strengthen north-south road connections were not included in the Welsh Government’s National Transport Plan.
The Welsh Government’s Deputy Climate Change Minister Lee Waters said that they were shifting away from building new roads.
“A motorway connecting north to south Wales does not form part of the National Transport Plan nor would it comply with the stated objectives of Llwybr Newydd to encourage mode shift to more sustainable forms of transport. No assessments have been undertaken,” he said.
But Janet Finch-Saunders said that with the “ridiculously poor and unreliable quality of rail services” between north and south, and with the Welsh Government having scrapped the air link, private cars were the most “feasible” form of transport for many.
“If we want an economically stronger and more united Wales it is only reasonable to expect that the Deputy Minister for Climate Change would at least have undertaken assessments of the feasibility of having a straighter road or motorway linking north and south Wales,” she said.
She added that she had been “campaigning for years” for better rail services “but the Welsh Government just have not listened”.
“Countless residents and I drove to the Royal Welsh this week, and we were all reminded yet again of how poor the highways are between North and South Wales, and the journey time is only going to get worse as we will be reduced to driving at 20mph through the countless communities between Conwy and Cardiff!” she said.
“It is to the detriment of the people and economy of Aberconwy and Wales that the Welsh Government have no plan for a motorway connecting North and South”.
‘Corridors’
The Welsh Government’s new planning document did outline plans for a rail link between the north and south of Wales.
The National Transport Delivery Plan 2022 includes plans to develop the case for the railway to Aberystwyth by 2025 and outline the design by 2027, although the document concedes that the planning stage may well move “beyond” that point.
The Plaid Cymru and Welsh Government cooperation agreement include a commitment to “ask Transport for Wales and other partners to explore how transport links between the north and south of Wales can be developed”.
These would include “how to protect potential travel corridors along the western coast of Wales from Swansea to Bangor”.
The transport document published this week includes amid its ongoing projects a “Swansea Aberystwyth Rail Link” with a commitment to “develop the case for change and option selection” between 2022 and 2025 and “outline design and powers” between “2025 to 2027 and beyond”.
The plan says: “TfW are developing outline plans for improving sustainable transport along travel corridors on the west coast of Wales.
“As part of this work they will identify any potential routes that will need to be reserved for potential future development.”
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So disappointing to have this intelligent person talking such outdated stuff
You’ll need a better road than the present if you want a National network of bus services with Shuttles running North to South via hubs in Powys.
Intelligent? Seriously?
Anaml iawn y byddaf yn cytuno a gwleidydd y Blaid Geidwadol ac Unoliaethol ond yn hyn o beth – OES mae ‘na angen priffordd sydd o leiaf yn un ddeuol bydd yn cysylltu De a Gogledd ein gwlad ni. ~ Very rarely do I agree with a politician of the Conservative and Unionist Party but in this case I do – we need at the very least a dual carriageway linking the South and the North of our country.
Am unwaith rwy’n cytuno gydag AS o Dori. Mae angen gwell ffordd rhwng y Gogledd a’r De. Does dim modd, ac yn bellach na hyn, dyw hi ddim yn realistig i’r rhan fwyaf o bobl ddibynnu ar reilffordd er mwyn gwneud y daith.
Mi fasai’n well gen i reilfordd, ond dan ni angen cysylltu’r gogledd a’r de rhywsut.
Another policy U-turn from the Welsh Tories. Someone has been reading Indy friendly forums to scour for ideas they can repeat to the public empty promises they would never ever fulfil if we were ever mad enough to elect them
You are becoming as much of a cynic as me ! It occured to the dark side of my mind that she has a pal who is high up in a firm of contractors who fancies a juicy long term road building contract. Bit like the scammers behind the promotion of HS2 way back. More spin to come no doubt.
Lee Waters has too much say in what happens in Wales…he is only the deputy after all !
Do not destroy the Welsh countryside! A motorway? never, never, never.
But if we want an indy-Wales we need to be able to travel north to south easily without going into another country.
Let the A470 between Traws and Cemaes Road with stretches of the Caernarfon bypass be the model…
Or looking like another country…
I’m guessing, she doesn’t.
Whilst we should eschew a motorway, we certainly need regular upgrading of our main arteries, with the occasional introduction of additional roads and bypasses. Sadly, we have a myopic Minister like Lee Waters overseeing transport.
In the past week we’ve seen stories that say i) rail networks can’t stand the extreme heat at the moment and would need a lot more investment to do so, ii) episodes of extreme heat are going to become more frequent and iii) UK government funds rail in England 20x more than in Wales. No new roads but improved public transport is a good plan where there are sufficient roads but too many cars. Are we saying there is sufficient roads between N + S Wales? We need better trains between N+S Wales as well but this is an example,… Read more »
Old rail networks are designed within a range of -10°C to 35°C, which was a generous annual temperature range at the time they were built. New lines can be designed easily enough to cope with higher temperatures, but if the range is wider, then more frequent expansion / contraction joints will be required and the cost will rise. We just need the climatologists to advise a robust and predictable temperature range. Unfortunately temps keep rising year on year and until they settle down this is difficult and new rail is designed “at risk”
Perhaps concrete could be a better surface than asphalt? ( Penn y Ffordd has a major cement factory.) And we should use, at most, a dual carriageway.
Road surfaces and colour are starting to be addressed in countries like Australia who are further down the the Climate Change continuum than we are. They have recognised that black asphalt surfaces absorb more heat than lighter coloured surfaces which have better reflective indexes and reflect more heat back into space.
Pathetic that it is coming from a Tory. Plaid have been banging on about North to South transport links since at least the 60’s (probably before that). Successive governments have (mainly Tory) consistently turned a deaf ear to the call.
Janets’ masters out east will be having a word with her. They can’t have talk of north/south links ‘to achieve a ‘more united Wales’ as it flies in the face of their decades long east/west divide and rule agenda. Getting us all together more frequently than just for the Football and Rugby will speed up the desire for Independence. Poor Janet just wanted a temporary roll mat motorway to get her from Conwy to Llanelwedd a bit quicker to be rolled up again and stowed away at the end of the Royal Welsh.
Ace mischief making from Janet,she knows there is no chance of this but she will enjoy Plaid Cymru supporting her call while always supporting the government.
The road certainly needs to be upgraded – it’s single track in places with all the cars parked everywhere. But a motorway??
How about a decent north to south railway service first that doesn’t cross the border and bypass most of the country.
JFS must have a new script writer and that person has not reviewed her old scripts – can I suggest he spends a few hours looking through them so the new ones she spouts are not 100 per cent at odds with the old ones. Her views one Von Ieuans Express ( 🚂as the “high speed” north to south service is known ) 🤭 The North South Airlink ✈️ Cardiff Airport 🛫🛩 Her view that the real road links are 4 the cities of north west England to the beaches ⛱⛰🛖 mountains and holiday homes. of north west Wales –… Read more »
At least we now have more clear evidence that the Tories do not understand the concept of Zero Carbon or the threat from Climate Breakdown. Janet Finch-Sunders’s desire for a north-south motorway would cost a great deal more to build than a railway, would consume a huge amount more land as the two existing N-S railway proposals all use existing but closed rail alignments and motorways generate more pollution than electric trains. Of course if she has a big chunk of shares in big construction companies then her view becomes more understandable and traditionally ‘Conservative’.
How exactly does building a multi lane road encouraging more vehicles to use the road, fit in with the climate change issue, surely we need more and better public transport, The carbon footprint of building a multi lane highway will be massive before a single car even used it, I will say one thing for the tories, they have no shortage of idiots in their party.
She has the solution and that is to make it a “national project” like HS2 and paid for by Westminster. It won’t happen because Westminster Tories regard Wales as “unworthy”.
If we want an #IndyWales then this has to be done, otherwise we remain 2 nations within 1 and will suffer for it. So lets get it done ASAP in an eco friendly way providing jobs and connectivity.
Surely we already have one? It’s called the A55/M6/M5/M4
Tories seem happy with that approach for trains
I’m very supportive of this idea. we need better transport links.
The Welsh Government fund alone a motorway from the North to the South, lol. Does Tory turnip Janet Finch-Saunders comprehend in her little mind how much that would cost us baring in mind the Senedd only has £1 billion borrowing powers? Firstly. Where would the money come from? Her beloved Tory party has already redirected hundreds of millions of once Welsh Government EU Structual Funding to Tory red wall seats in the North of England to keep them sweet until the next election, besides also dipping into our Welsh block to send £30 million to Ukraine without Welsh Government consultation.… Read more »
what a confused individual you are. completely changed your view on helping Ukraine when 3 months ago you were complaining about how slow the UK govt was.
did you take in a refugee in the end?
People are allowed to change. Most of us have been on a learning curve on this difficult issue. I’d never heard of Bandera, for instance.
*Now I get an ” Awaiting approval” – notice. What on earth!
She likes to say a lot, doesn’t she.
There you are, Janet. They want us to travel by donkey. So J.F.S, why don’t you start a true Welsh Conservative Party? You might be surprised by the response. I’ll bet that Labour would be!
Nice to see a Welsh Conservative talking sense at long last.
Yes, we desperately do need a North – South motorway.