End of the road for M4 in south Wales?

The £1.4bn relief road project was a long-standing business priority and the devolved government’s decision to pull the plus is a major blow to business confidence throughout the nation. The CBI campaigned for the road to go ahead but will now turn its attention to the newly created M4 Commission, created by the government to identify alternative solutions to the ‘Brynglas bottleneck’.

The M4 motorway underpins two thirds of Welsh GDP and is a corridor of growth and opportunity across South Wales. It is no surprise that Welsh firms rank tackling congestion on the road as their number one infrastructure priority.

The cancellation comes in spite of a Public Inquiry that strongly supported the relief road. The road was on course until a change of First Minister in December 2018. New First Minister, Mark Drakeford, who brands his politics as “21st century socialism,” turned down the project on environmental and financial grounds.

The Welsh government is now creating an M4 Commission. The Commission will consider the problems, opportunities, challenges, and objectives for tackling congestion on the M4 in south east Wales and make recommendations on alternative solutions in the light of the First Minister’s decision that the ‘Black Route’ proposal should not proceed.

While we struggle to see what alternative could be better than the M4 black route, the ball is back in the Welsh government’s court to deliver their plan B. An urgent and credible solution to the problem of congestion around the Brynglas tunnels must now be developed. Traffic around Newport has already increased by 10% since the abolition of the Severn Bridge tolls and is projected to increase further next year.

The CBI will be giving evidence to the Commission and we would value members’ views. To inform this process, we will be holding a round table on 2 July at the CBI’s Cardiff office to discuss how business should engage with the commission and its work.