Catch up Drakeford

Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford                                           Source: BBC/Wales News Service

The slogan 'Taking Wales Forward' reminds me of a Latin teacher telling  his class about advertising ploys. He used the example of Craven A which, he alleged, gave smokers a sore throat so promoters used the slogan, "Will Not Affect Your Throat".

Far from taking Wales forward, Latin scholar Mark Drakeford, Wales' First Minister  is set on taking Wales backwards in his decision to block the long awaited M4 bypass around Newport in South Wales often seen as the gateway to Wales.

The long suffering people living along side the M4 around the Brynglas tunnels and motorists have to endure mounting pollution from traffic blockages while the First minister pats himself on the back for saving bugs and beetles on the Gwent levels.

Frustrated by the decision, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would "do the things the Welsh Government has failed to do" and "unblock the Brynglas tunnels".

A spokesperson for the Welsh Assembly responded "It's an entirely devolved matter and the first minister has made his decision."

Forever playing catch up in Wales Drakeford has prided himself on taking a different route to the UK government particularly on pandemic restrictions claiming to be guided by expert advice.

Another expert, the planning inspector who spent more than a year considering the case for a new M4 route south of Newport gave it his overwhelming backing but Drakeford ignored that expert opinion.

Having spent £114m of taxpayers' money before the scheme was axed including £44m on a public inquiry, First Minister Drakeford axed the scheme because of its cost and impact on the environment.

Boris Johnson's intervention suggests that the cost of the relief road to remove the Bryn Glas bottleneck is firmly guaranteed but Drakeford and his environmentalist friends are more content to leave local residents and motorists fuming as long as creepy crawlies remain content in the salt marshes of the Gwent levels, unseen and unheard of until progress is mentioned.

It would have been better for the long suffering people of Wales if Mark Drakeford had stuck to Latin.

Postscript [16.07.20]

The panel of experts set up to consider alternatives to the M4 relief road has concluded that "some sort of charging mechanism is necessary" to encourage people to use public transport, cycle or walk.

Having scrapped the Severn bridge levy on people entering Wales a new M4 charge is proposed to "provide revenue funding for transport services", including more rail stations between Cardiff and Severn Tunnel Junction, thus increasing the risk of spreading the Coronavirus, Covid-19, on crowded train services.

The alternative to these proposals is to build the relief road as recommended by planning experts but the First Minister of Wales continues to insist on protecting 'rare' birds which would fly to other habitats and largely unseen insects.

With the next Senedd election due to be held in May 2021 there will be an opportunity for realists to dump Drakeford for a politician who puts people before bugs.

Postscript [21.08.20]

Comrade Drakeford has spoken: " 'That decision is over': Mark Drakeford says £1.3bn M4 relief road will not be happening. 'There is no point in people hankering back to it'." The arrogance of the man.

Mark who?

Source: BBC

Whilst congratulating Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford on his election as leader of the Labour party in Wales and likely First Minister in succession to Carwyn Jones, it says much for Welsh politics and devolved government that many people in Wales, not to mention elsewhere, had to be told who he was.

Polling 53.9% of the vote in the second round after Eluned Morgan was eliminated Vaughan Gething the Secretary for Health and Social Services came a creditable second.

One must hope that the realisation of office will enable the First Minister to look beyond such matters as extending the smoking ban to town and city centres and giving the parents of newborn babies a 'bundle of essential items'.

The integration of health services and social care along with ending the M4 bottleneck for traffic coming into Wales need urgent attention. That is how he will put his name on the map, hopefully for the better.

Welsh politics

To be brutally honest, Welsh Assembly Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford, the front runner in the Welsh Labour leadership race, reminds me of M. Hulot, a character far removed from his creator, the multi-talented Jacques Tati.

Drakeford said that if he wins he will not look forward to question time in the assembly or media interviews that are part of the job.

How refreshingly honest.

It has often been said that the last person to be a bishop is someone who wants to be a bishop. Looking at the parlous state of the Church in Wales that has become increasingly obvious.

Drakeford will be rubbished for his honesty but good luck to him.

More honesty and less ambition shouldn't go amiss.

Why the Welsh Assembly should be scrapped

The £1bn plan to get the M4 moving now looks destined for the scrap heap

If the political capital isn't there for the £1.1bn M4 'black route', how long will drivers have to wait before the era of gridlock comes to an end?
Source: Wales Online

After the political posturing in the Welsh Assembly which resulted in Carwyn Jones being renominated as First Minister, the price of his success is becoming clear, the likelihood of utter chaos as the economy of Wales is placed at the back of the queue.

Anyone who has paid the price of entry to Wales via the Severn Bridge soon finds that there is another price to be paid, delays caused by the two lane bottleneck at Brynglas Tunnels. Bad enough in normal circumstances, one hiccough caused by a breakdown, or worse, by one of the many serious accidents involving loss of life, the motorway is closed while the police try to work out the cause. The main cause is obvious. The highway is overcrowded and no longer fit for purpose.

Newport is the gateway to the economic heartland of Wales. Already chaotic during rush hours, driving through Newport can quickly turn into a nightmare with tail backs of 10 miles and more not uncommon after accidents, see examples here, here, and here, with consequent gridlock at motorway junctions for miles around. Visitors to Rugby Internationals and Soccer games add even more misery to a chaotic situation.

Not only are delays bad for the economy of Wales but the disruption caused by missed appointments at hospitals and surgeries adds additional burdens to already overstretched public services. So what can the politicians be thinking about other than self perpetuation?

A 'fly through' video here shows the route the £1bn M4 motorway relief road could take around Newport. In 2015 a Welsh Government spokesman said:

 "The M4 is much more than a motorway; it’s essential for the Welsh people and our economy. We need it to transport ourselves, our people, goods and services throughout Wales and beyond. We need it to reach ports and airports, and we need it to serve our thriving tourist industry.

"The problems around Newport discourage business investment, and are expected to get worse. We want to improve access to international markets. We need a transport system that improves our nation’s economic competitiveness and encourages jobs and growth. The M4 Corridor around Newport project is an essential part of our vision for an efficient integrated transport system.

"Complementary to this project, we are also taking forward a Cardiff Capital Region Metro to improve public transport within the region."

As the Editor of the South Wales Argus wrote yesterday in an open letter to the First Minister, when he first joined the Argus as a journalist in 1989, "the need for a relief road as a solution to the bottleneck on the M4 around Newport was high on the news agenda then. Yet almost 30 years later we are no further forward and the problems on the motorway, particularly around the Brynglas tunnels, have simply worsened."

Yes there are objections about the threat to nature and the effect on individual businesses but that's life. Most businesses are in favour of the project. An urgent solution is needed for the greater good.

On current projections the preferred route project would not be completed until 2021 if the go ahead were given now. David Cameron has urged the Welsh Government "to build an M4 relief road as soon as possible for the sake of business. He said ministers in Cardiff Bay had been granted powers to borrow up to £500m for the project, calling the route a 'vital transport artery'. Mr Cameron said the delay in building the relief road was 'damaging' business in south Wales".

The economy of Wales is playing second fiddle to the ambitions of Senedd Assembly Members. Who needs them? In the Senedd elections the 'Abolish the Welsh Assembly' Party polled more votes than the Green Party which pledged to oppose the M4 relief road.

The 'success' of UKIP which resulted in disgraced MP Neil Hamilton being given another political platform must be a kick in the backside for UKIP voters as he deposed UKIP's leader in Wales to pick up an additional £20,000 a year "taking his salary to £84,000 with control of a publicly-funded group budget of around £200,000. In addition, each of the seven UKIP AMs is entitled to employ three full-time members of staff".

It would be interesting to see the result of a re-run of the election but for now the people of Wales must sweat it out while South East Wales grinds to a halt. So much for 'progress' through devolved government.

Postscript [25.05.2016]
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has submitted a formal objection to the M4 relief road plan. The trust said it [the"black route"]  will take an area of wet grassland and ditch rich in rare wildlife that includes meadow thistle, otters, water voles and ancient pollarded willows - representative of many parts of the Levels expected to be compulsory purchased for the relief road development, much of which is nationally designated for its wildlife importance.

No doubt NRW would prefer a plague of frogs to the pollutants caused by constant gridlock but a solution must be found if the economy of Wales is not to suffer even worse problems.

As local MP, Paul Flynn said, Plaid Cymru, UKIP and others prefer an upgrade of existing roads around Newport, including the A48 Southern Distributor Road (SDR) which runs along the city's outskirts to the south.

Referring to the SDR proposal Mr Flynn said: "The blue route scheme would bring back congestion that the city suffered before the opening of the Southern Distributor Road in 2004, and that its role to re-distribute traffic 'east to west, north to south' would be destroyed. He said this would make Newport 'a traffic hell of gridlock and pollution'. Mr Flynn argued the blue route was 'favoured by people from elsewhere in Wales who long to pick up the scraps if the black [route] solution, is dumped'."