Transport: Better links between Wales and England recommended

Road and rail improvements between north Wales and north-west England are among the recommendations of a UK government transport review.

Sir Peter Hendy also recommended improvements to public transport should be used to alleviate M4 congestion.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited the Welsh government to work "collaboratively" on the proposals.

The Welsh government has said it is the UK government's responsibility to invest in rail networks in Wales.

The Union Connectivity Review, chaired by Sir Peter Hendy, began work in October 2020 with a remit to review the quality and availability of transport infrastructure across the UK.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "We must strengthen the rail and road links across Wales if we are to truly level up the UK - enhancing the connectivity of Welsh towns and cities and bringing communities closer together."

He said the UK government would reflect on the review, "boost key transport connections" and "more evenly distribute opportunity and prosperity" through close working with the Welsh government.

However the report omits any plans to electrify the network in north Wales and across south Wales, which Mr Waters said was a "big disappointment" as it had been promised by the UK government.

"The way that the transport system across the UK is working is dysfunctional, because the UK government has responsibility for the rail infrastructure but is not funding Wales, the funding is still going around London," said Mr Waters.

"We are not getting our fair share, we're not getting our share of HS2.

"This report is really welcome but now the UK government has to follow through."

Currently, all new road building projects in Wales are being frozen while the Welsh government conducts a review.

Transport Secretary for England Grant Shapps told Radio Wales on Friday: "On a road you can drive an electric car… so I don't think necessarily we can imagine a world in which we'll all get around without any roads at all and where there are roads we'll want to deal with the congestions."

Mr Shapps said the Welsh government had been involved in discussions ahead of the report's release and both governments would work together to resolve issues around transport, such as congestion.

"I don't think there's any surprises in the report itself… the top lines are all the things he's been talking to the Welsh government about," Mr Shapps added.

"We know we need to resolve the problems of the south Wales corridor… how we do it is a matter for discussion."

He added proposals for a UK network "would certainly be of interest to sort out those problems around the M4".

Wales' deputy minister for climate change and transport, Lee Waters said: "We need to work together, this report now firmly endorses our actions around Newport, it turns away from the M4 and says public transport is the way ahead.

"Now the UK has to help with the investment because they have responsibility for rail."

Sir Peter advised the UK government to support measures to reduce congestion on the M4, which runs from Carmarthenshire to London, as well as improving the M4 junction with the M5.

This would support another of Sir Peter's suggestions - to improve connectivity between south Wales and the Midlands.

Suggested rail improvements in south Wales include upgrading and building new stations on the south Wales main line.

It also advises the UK government to increase connectivity and reduce journey times between Cardiff and Birmingham, including better rolling stock, timetable changes and enhanced infrastructure.

New mainline stations are already planned for the south Wales mainline, including a Cardiff Parkway station near St Mellons.

Stuart Cole, Emeritus professor of transport at the University of South Wales, told Radio Wales Breakfast: "There's been a concentration in the report very much on the two big corridors, north Wales into England and south Wales into England.

"But little mention, as far as we can see, of the electrification of Cardiff to Swansea - and indeed a straightening of that track which could reduce the journey time to 35 minutes - and the electrification of the north Wales rail line which I worked on in 1978.

"I just hope we don't have another 40 years before we wait for that line to be electrified."

The Labour leader of Flintshire council, Ian Roberts, said he wanted the UK government to "deliver" on union connectivity.

Mr Roberts is also vice chair of the Growth Track 360 campaign which is lobbying for rail improvements in north Wales and Cheshire.

He said he hoped Chester station would be upgraded as a result of the review, because the track layout "needs modernisation".

"The Welsh government has announced that next year there will be trains running from Llandudno to Liverpool Lime Street," he said.

"We genuinely wonder how they are going to get through Chester station because current capacity is just not enough.

"Some of our asks for north Wales are - not to put too fine a point on it - in England. Chester is the key station, and unlocking capacity there is particularly important."

Mr Roberts said "pinch-points" on roads across north Wales had become exacerbated during the pandemic, with holidaymakers highlighting the need to improve certain stretches of roads including the A55.

He added that public transport for many in north Wales was a "forlorn hope".

Chris Bird, the director of Llantrisant-based hauliers CJ Bird Transport, said he had little faith that issues with the road network in south Wales would be resolved in the wake of the report.

"They'll spend an arm and a leg on a report and nothing's going to change," he said.

Referencing the shelved plans to build a relief road for the M4 around Newport, Mr Bird said a solution had not yet been put forward.

"The pinch-point seems to be Newport", he said.

"My main concern is getting in and out of Wales in a timely fashion and when you have an incident it turns into a one-track road.

"We were having two-and-a-half, three hour delays earlier this week. That's drivers' time wasted, that's extra wear and tear."

Mr Bird added he remained unconvinced by plans to improve the rail network in south Wales given people's reticence to use public transport because of Covid fears.

Matthew Fell, chief policy director for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said Sir Peter's review made "important recommendations which will help deliver a modern, integrated transport network".

"Strong collaboration between the UK and devolved governments will be vital to making this vision a reality," he said.