Welsh Government to withdraw funding for A48 and M4 link road

By Ellyn Wright

21st Mar 2021 | Local News

The Welsh Government will withdraw funding for the controversial road planned to link Sycamore Cross on the A48 with Junction 34 of the M4.

Transport minister Ken Skates said that the proposed road no longer fits with the updated policy, which sets out a twenty-year transport strategy.

It would likely cost around £66 million to build, and was dependent on funding from the Welsh Government.

In a letter to Vale of Glamorgan MS Jane Hutt, Mr Skates said "the Welsh government will not continue to provide funding" for the project.

"The scheme is not in line with our grant criteria or the transport policy framework we have set in the Llwybr Newydd," he said.

Jane Hutt welcomed the announcement.

"Good news thanks to the Vale community campaign I backed and supported! Good news for the environment and future generations," she said.

Conservative leader in Wales, Andrew RT Davies, who lives in Cowbridge, tweeted: "Pleased that plans for the unnecessary J34-M4 link road, which would've decimated the village of Pendoylan, have been dropped."

Earlier this week, transport planners said that "further analysis was needed" about how the road would fit in with the new context of Covid-19 and the climate emergency.

The case for the road is to improve transport across the region, including to Cardiff Airport, St Athan's Enterprise Zone, and new housing developments.

But criticism has come from residents whose houses would be knocked down, cyclists who use country lanes which could be blocked off, and from Coed Cymru warning that ancient woodland would be felled to make way for the road.

The Vale of Glamorgan cabinet will meet on Monday to discuss the future of the road.

     

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