Conservatives Label Sanded Road Review Panel’s Scrapping of Major Projects ‘Bonkers’

Conservatives have labelled the Welsh government Road Review Panel’s decision to scrap all new major road projects as “bonkers”. They further stated their beliefs that Labor will severely impact Wales’ growth with its transport policies. The Welsh Government released its Roads Review Panel’s findings in February in which it was elected to scrap nine major road projects in favor of finding more carbon-friendly alternatives. The announcement followed a year-long review in which all new road building projects in Wales were put on hold in July 2021. UK roads minister Richard Holden called the policy “obviously bonkers” on the second day of the Welsh Conservative conference in Newport. He said: “We’ve got to have a situation where people can get around the country. “I really do think the Welsh government are holding back broader investment because of their ideological obsession with trying to stop road building.” Welsh Conservative shadow transport minister Natasha Asghar, also speaking at the conference, continued to say how she believes Labor have “ground Wales to a halt”. She stated: “Labor has ground Wales to a halt with their frankly sphinxlike approach to transport. “Trains cancelled, road building cancelled, all whilst airlines continue to cancel their routes from Cardiff airport. “The Welsh people want an M4 relief road, the Welsh people want a functional railway service, what the Welsh people don’t want is £200m spent on a failing airport.” Added to this, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has recently said he will not give any more powers to the Welsh government and the Senedd. Last week, a village in Snowdonia was promised a new road by the Senedd after a much-anticipated bypass was an early casualty of the Road Review Panel. The Llanbedr bypass was scrapped in 2021 after villagers campaigned for it for 60 years but now Senedd deputy minister for climate change Lee Waters has said a “scaled-down” option would be supported. In March, protestors blocked traffic through Llanbedr to oppose the Welsh government’s cancellation of building the bypass.