Environmentalists rejoice as £1.4bn M4 relief road scrapped after 30 years of talks

Decision to abandon proposals for dual three-lane motorway near Newport 'great news for Wales and the planet', Friends of the Earth says

File image of Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford. (PA)

Plans for a £1.4bn relief road to ease congestion on the M4 motorway in south Wales have been scrapped, the Welsh government has announced after decades of discussions.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said the cost of delivering the project “was not acceptable” and expressed concerns about its effect on the environment.

The decision appears to bring to an end 30 years of discussions in Wales about building a dual three-lane motorway south of Newport to relieve congestion on the existing M4 around the city.

Welsh Labour made building the road an election pledge in its 2016 manifesto under former leader Carwyn Jones.

But Mr Drakeford made no mention of the project in his own leadership manifesto before succeeding him at the end of last year.

The Welsh government ordered a £44m public inquiry into the project, and a report by planning inspector Bill Wadrup, made public this week, backed the plans, saying it would provide good value for money.

But in his decision letter, released shortly after the report's publication, Mr Drakeford said his cabinet had already decided in April not to back the project because of demands on the Welsh government’s budgets and its financial position.

He said the cost involved “was not acceptable”.

File image of part of the M4. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

He added that the allocation of government funds was “beyond the scope of the public inquiry” and not a matter on which the inspector should comment.

Mr Drakeford also said he attached “greater weight” to the effects that the road would have on the environment than the inspector had.

“In particular, I attach very significant weight to the fact that the project would have a substantial adverse impact on the Gwent Levels SSSIs and their green network and wildlife, and on other species, and a permanent adverse impact on the historic landscape of the Gwent Levels," he added.

“As a result, in my judgment, the project’s adverse impacts on the environment (taken together with its other disadvantages) outweigh its advantages.”

Welsh Conservatives said the decision was a “kick in the teeth” for commuters and that Welsh Labour had “poured millions of pounds down the drain in completing the inquiry, only to ignore its findings”.

Conservative assembly member Russell George said: “Congestion on this road is a foot on the windpipe of the south Wales economy, and is damaging our businesses and their future prospects.”

Heather Myers, chief executive of South and Mid Wales Chamber of Commerce, said it and the business community it represented were “bitterly disappointed”, while a joint statement from the Cardiff Capital Region City deal said southeast Wales would become “paralysed by an ageing transport infrastructure operating beyond capacity”.

But Friends of the Earth Cymru said the decision was “great news for Wales and the planet”.

The environmental organisation said: “As well as costing Welsh taxpayers over £2bn, this devastating road would have ploughed through the unique, wildlife-rich Gwent Levels, pumped more climate-wrecking emissions into our atmosphere, and ultimately caused even more congestion and air pollution.”

Press Association contributed to this report