Politics
M4 relief road could be ‘dead in the water’
An M4 Relief Road is ‘dead in the water’ if Labour do a deal with Plaid Cymru after the election, says Welsh Conservative Leader Andrew RT Davies.
The party will pledge to get ‘diggers in the ground’ on an M4 relief road within twelve months of forming a Government – as transport companies and local businesses highlight the importance of action on the project.
Andrew RT Davies AM and William Graham AM will visit Hicks Logistics in Caldicot to discuss the project at 3pm on Thursday, as part of a series of visits related to the project.
Improving infrastructure to create more jobs in Wales is a key plank of the Welsh Conservative Party’s policy platform. On the visits, Welsh Conservatives will also highlight that a solution to the gridlock around Newport is under threat with Labour and Plaid Cymru.
Mr Davies will also warn of the perils of five more years of “life in the slow lane” under Welsh Labour.
Welsh Conservatives recently pledged to get “diggers in the ground” on a relief road within 12 months. Mr Davies says Wales’ most important infrastructure project in a generation would be “dead in the water” if Plaid Cymru and Labour were to do a deal after May 6th.
The project has already been cast into doubt after the Welsh Labour Government admitted that the planned M4 relief road could cost more than £1 billion, despite earlier assurances from the First Minister that it would cost significantly less.
Mr Davies said: “Make no mistake, the M4 relief road is dead in the water if Labour do a deal with Plaid Cymru after the election in May.
“The nationalists have already made it a red line issue, and it’s pretty clear that Leanne Wood will prop Labour up yet again for a sniff of power.
“The daily congestion around that stretch of the M4, near Newport, has long been a huge barrier to economic growth and progress must be made.
“That’s why the stakes are so high in this election, and that’s why people have to vote Welsh Conservative in May if they want to see progress on the most important infrastructure project in a generation.”
Meanwhile, Shadow Economy Minister – William Graham – said that Labour dithering on infrastructure projects has held the Welsh economy back and warned of the risk Labour pose to Wales’ economic development.
He said: “The relief road should have been built fifteen years ago. But like so many other transport projects under Labour, it fell by the wayside.
“Wales endured thirteen years of Labour in office at Westminster and yet not a single inch of train track in Wales was electrified.
“We’ve had 17 years of Labour in Cardiff Bay and there has been no progress on an M4 relief road, no progress on addressing the chronic congestion on the A40, and no progress on a third Menai crossing.
“Having spent more than a decade deliberating the need for an M4 relief road in South Wales and almost £30millon of public money on consultation fees, it is disgraceful that there are now doubts surrounding the project.”
Community
Social housing plans for Cleddau Bridge Hotel site backed
A SCHEME to build 38 affordable and social housing units on the site of a fire-ravaged former Pembrokeshire hotel has been backed by senior Pembrokeshire councillors.
Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet, meeting on April 22, supported a contract with developer Castell Group Ltd for the mix of affordable homes and social housing units at the Cleddau Bridge Hotel site, Pembroke Dock.
Members, in a report presented by Cabinet Member for Planning & Housing Delivery Cllr Jon Harvey, heard Castell had approached the council’s housing service to determine whether there is an interest in working with them to bring forward the development as a social/affordable housing site.
Castell Construction Ltd specialises in the construction of affordable / social housing, typically for registered social landlords across south Wales, and hopes to build 12 one-bedroom flats, 15 two-bed houses, five three-bed, two four-bed, and four two-bed bungalows.
The development package would be part-funded from the housing revenue account, the remainder from the Social Housing Grant and/or second homes premium for affordable housing if it becomes available for the Housing Service to use in this manner.
Cllr Harvey – who moved approval – said the scheme was expected to provide £230,000 a year in rentals income, describing it as “an excellent opportunity to work with a proven developer for extra social housing in an area of proven need.”
Deputy Leader Cllr Paul Miller said he was supportive of the scheme, as was local member Cllr Joshua Beynon, saying: “It’s a bit of an eyesore at the moment, if we can bring this site back into meaningful use, and in an area where there is a need, I’m all in support of this.”
Members backed senior officers be delegated powers to enter into the works contract, and to have powers to proceed with the land acquisition.
If a subsequent planning permission is secured for the site, the homes could be built by autumn 2026.
In a prime location at one of the entrances to Pembroke Dock, the former Cleddau Bridge Hotel has been derelict since a fire in March 2019, which brought emergency services from as far afield as Ammanford, Aberystwyth and Swansea.
Community
County Hall to offer space for community banking
A CALL for Pembrokeshire County Council to potentially change its banking arrangement with Barclays, after it closed its Haverfordwest branch has been turned down, but County Hall is to offer space for community banking.
Barclays Bank, on the town’s High Street, is to close on May 10.
The council has had a banking services contract with Barclays since 2013.
Councillor Huw Murphy, in a notice of motion heard by Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet meeting of April 22, asked the council to review its banking arrangements with Barclays following the announced closure.
e said the loss of a branch “not only impacts upon town centres and businesses but also disproportionately impacts the elderly who are less likely to embrace on-line banking options”.
A report for Cabinet members said, in terms of the impact on Pembrokeshire residents, Barclays has said that it is “not leaving Haverfordwest and [will] continue to provide face-to-face support for those who need it” via community locations.
Two options were presented to Cabinet: to retender the banking services contract, and, the favoured, to work with Barclays to ensure a community location is set up in Haverfordwest.
Members heard the costs associated with moving to a new banking service provider could be in excess of £50,000.
For the second, favoured option, members heard Barclays was in discussions with the council about a location for potential community banking.
Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance Cllr Alec Cormack, after outlining the risks in the report for members, and moving the notice be not adopted, said he had “considerable sympathy” with Cllr Murphy’s notice.
He told councillors there was a glimmer of light for banking arrangements in the county, with an agreement now signed for two ground floor rooms at County Hall, Haverfordwest, to be used for community banking.
From April 25, the rooms will be available on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, members heard.
Cabinet Member for Planning & Housing Delivery Cllr Jon Harvey also said he had “a lot of sympathy” for the motion, adding: “It’s excellent news a deal has been struck to occupy the ground floor rooms three days a week; hopefully this will mitigate, to a certain amount, the closure.
“If we can work with the respective banks to get a community-type approach let’s move forward.”
Politics
Next stage of £19m Haverfordwest interchange backed
THE SECOND stage of building Haverfordwest’s near-£19m transport interchange has been backed, with senior councillors hearing it could cost the council more to not support it.
The transport interchange, which includes an integrated bus station and construction of a new multi-storey car park, is part of a wider series of regeneration projects in the county town.
The total cost of the scheme in the approved budget is £18.881m, £1.987m from Pembrokeshire County Council; the remainder, £16.894m, from an already-awarded Welsh Government grant.
To date, £3.425m has been spent on advanced works, including the demolition of the old multi-storey car park and a temporary bus station.
Members of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet, meeting on April 22, were recommended to approve the award of the Stage 2 construction contract for the Haverfordwest Transport Interchange.
The report for members listed two simple options for Cabinet, to authorise the award of a contract, recommended, or to not.
For the latter it warned: “It is envisaged Welsh Government will withdraw the funding awarded and the council would need to repay grants received to date; £10.322m has been received to date of which £3.376m has been offset against expenditure.”
It added: “Cost to cease this project could cost PCC more in terms of grant repayment and any capital work required to make good. PCC match contribution for the project is forecast as £1.987m of the £18.881m.”
Planning permission for the interchange was granted in 2022, with a temporary bus station constructed that year and the old multi-storey building demolished in 2023.
That year, members of the county council’s Cabinet agreed a temporary car park will be sited on the demolished remains of the old multi-storey car park until the Haverfordwest Public Transport Interchange – delayed as no compliant tender had been found at the time – is built.
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Leader Cllr Paul Miller said: “The interchange is an important part of the regeneration of Haverfordwest, it will not regenerate Haverfordwest on its own, it is part of a wider process. The alternative to us being engaged is we simply allow it to decline and fail.”
He said the interchange was about “making it easier to visit Haverfordwest,” making parking provision “really straightforward, making it easy and convenient as possible”.
Cllr Miller said not progressing with the scheme would risk the grants already obtained, meaning the council could potentially foot the bill for costs to date, at a greater level than progressing.
He said the cost options were a near-£2m subsidised council involvement for the whole scheme or the £3m-plus spent to date if the scheme was ended, which would leave the car park as it is now.
“It’s pretty reasonable that if they give us the money and we don’t build a transport interchange they’ll be looking for that money back,” Cllr Miller said.
He said previous figures from parking revenue – back in 2019 – amounted to £100,000 a year; and could be expected to at least double on a “like-for-like” basis following the increase in parking charges.
Members, after a private and confidential session over the actual contract details, agreed to proceed with the scheme, awarding the contract to Kier Construction Western and Wales.
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