North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has hit out at the Finance Minister for failing to respond to his call for an update on the planned improvements to the congested A494, A55 and A548 at Deeside.
The stretch is notorious for bottlenecks and crashes and drivers are keen for the upgrade to get underway. But when Mr Isherwood challenged the Minister, Jane Hutt AM, over funding and timescales for the scheme in the Assembly Chamber on 13th January, she sidestepped his questions.
Questioning the Minister, Mr Isherwood said:
“North Wales residents are well aware of chronic gridlock issues on the A55. Following rejection of disastrous proposals for the Deeside corridor after the findings of a public inquiry in 2007, to which I gave evidence, the Welsh Government held public exhibitions last autumn on two proposed plans for easing congestion on the A494, A5 and A548 Deeside corridor now, but stated that the selection of the preferred route is expected before the end of 2016.
“What assurances can you therefore provide that the process is on course and will be funded - the Welsh Government used the figure of £200 million - and when do you envisage diggers in the ground, actually working on this vital upgrade?”
The Minister replied: “The Minister for Economy, Science and Transport has advised and updated Assembly Members on the work that’s been undertaken, and also in terms of the timelines. And, of course, the Minister for Natural Resources yesterday was also able to respond to these issues. But I think it’s important that, in my recent budget, which I announced on 8 September, I included £3 million for progressing flood protection work in St Asaph and £3 million for the coastal risk management programme. That’s going to use innovative finance to fund £150 million of capital projects for coastal adaptation resilience to climate change.”
Mr Isherwood added: “It is utterly bizarre that the Minister should confuse this key issue for North Wales residents with climate change, which she seems to have on her mind at the moment! (In this week’s Business Statement the Minister also blamed the different approaches to road gritting between North Wales Councils on climate change). The preceding day’s comments by the Minister for Natural Resources related to flooding and the Minister for Economy, Science and Transport’s Statement on the National Transport Finance Plan last September said only “good progress is being made on the £200million investment to improve the road network in the Deeside area”.
“Her Government has raised expectation in North East Wales that local preference for the Deeside corridor improvement will be listened to and it is therefore very worrying that the Minister dodged my question on funding and timescales for this scheme.”