Council leader says he will fight proposal to close M4 junctions

The leader of Newport council says he will fight proposals to close junctions along the M4 in the city.

Labour's Dimitri Batrouni said residents of the city should not have to pay the price for attempts to ease congestion.

Ministers are considering completely closing junction 27 at High Cross, and closing eastbound slip roads at junction 26 in Malpas, and junction 25 for Caerleon, as part of a package of measures to tackle the bottleneck at the Brynglas Tunnels.

The Welsh government has promised to consult the council before going ahead. Deputy Transport Minister Mark Hooper said keeping the current situation on the motorway was not an option.

Hooper's announcement on Tuesday was the first attempt by the Plaid Cymru government to tackle the problem of congestion on the M4.

It follows abandoned proposals for an M4 relief road - ditched in 2019 by then First Minister Mark Drakeford, and by the Labour/Plaid Cymru coalition in 2009.

The junctions could close in two years' time, while a separate 18-month piece of work will also look into a "roads-based solution" that could include expanding the Brynglas Tunnels, or even creating a new motorway.

Transport for Wales will also work on developing proposed new railway stations in south-east Wales using funding from the UK government, with Cardiff Parkway, Magor and Undy given priority.

The Welsh government has ruled out the "black route" - a new motorway proposed across the Gwent Levels that was axed in 2019.

Reform and the Conservatives have said they would build the road if they were in power, but the Welsh government says it is now not deliverable.

Batrouni said: "Easing congestion on the M4 is always a good thing but not at the expense of Newport residents suffering locally, suffering in their local neighbourhoods just trying to get on with their daily business.

"Someone pays a price," he added, saying even a report published by the Welsh government said "local residents would see increased traffic".

"I'm not willing [to see] Newport residents pay a price that's not their fault."

People in the city "would be completely against junction closures", he said.

Batrouni, who said he supported the black route, added: "We're considering our options to build up a campaign, to build up some petitions, and look at what we can do as a council to fight these proposals."

Welsh Labour leader Ken Skates speculated that there may be "legal action because this is going to have an impact in terms of air quality in Newport".

The deputy transport minister said he recognised that "people are really concerned about those junction closures".

Hooper told Wednesday's BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that he had spoken to the council leader on Tuesday: "Clearly he's not comfortable with what the the plan is.

"But I want to make sure that Newport gets the public infrastructure and public transport system that it deserves.

"Newport's a very young city, and the people there expect good public transport systems and, at the moment, Newport doesn't work from a from a transport perspective in the same way as the M4 doesn't work.

"We have multiple problems to solve."

In a Senedd committee, Hooper said doing nothing was "not an option".

But Jayne Bryant, Labour Member of the Senedd (MS) for Casnewydd Islwyn, told BBC Wales that people in the city would be "astonished" if the junction proposals went ahead.

She said the closures would have a "huge impact" and would bring "more traffic close to where people live".

She said she "absolutely" wanted to see public transport options "accelerated" as the Welsh government had proposed. "That's what we need to focus on," she said.

A report by Arup, published on Tuesday, warned that public acceptability was "likely to be low" among users of the junctions.

It said: "The option may provide some local operational benefits but is unlikely to deliver the wider productivity, resilience or agglomeration benefits of a more comprehensive M4 corridor intervention."

Reform's Louise Emery said the M4 had been discussed for decades.

"We could be driving on the M4 relief road now. I think our worry is it's just another 18 months of thinking about it, and then putting these measures in place in the next five years, which aren't going to please the residents of Newport."

She said Reform, if it was in charge, "would be announcing that we would build the M4 relief road".

In a debate on Tuesday Hooper said the black route was not achievable.

"The protected route status went when it was cancelled," he said. "So, we're talking about decades of work to even get that off the ground."