A WILDLIFE expert is urging planning inspectors not to allow the destruction of the Gwent Levels, which they describe as Wales’ equivalent of the Amazon rainforest.

Speaking on the final day of the public inquiry into the M4 around Newport, Gwent Wildlife Trust Gwent Wildlife Trust chief executive Ian Rappel says the Gwent Levels are vitally important to the well-being of not just wildlife but also people, as the ‘green lungs’ of Newport and south Gwent.

“The proposed new M4 (relief road) is the UK’s most ecologically damaging road building scheme,” said Mr Rappel.

“And in species diversity terms the Gwent Levels is Wales’ very own version of the Amazon rainforest.

“It must be protected for people and wildlife, now and for future generations.

“We hope the planning inspectors recommend refusal. Instead, the Welsh Government should turn its attention to 21st Century sustainable, innovative, low carbon solutions to congestion.

“Surely that’s preferable to a 1960s idea that to solve congestion on a motorway you just build another motorway, and another, and another.

“In simple terms the habitat is like a jigsaw puzzle. All the component parts of the puzzle fit together and every piece has an exact and important place in the bigger picture.

“For every jigsaw ‘piece’ that will be lost on the Gwent Levels – if the M4 gets the go ahead – the consequence is the destruction of the habitats of vitally important species like endangered water voles, otters, birds, bats and plants.

“And for the people who live, work and enjoy the Gwent Levels, the towering sight of the M4 looming over them will overshadow and blight their lives forever.”

The Welsh Government considers the relief road proposal to be a sustainable, long-term solution to what it calls the “current social, environmental and economic problems associated with this route.”

It sees the relief road as a vital part of its ambitions for an “efficient integrated transport system in South Wales”.

Those in favour of the relief road believe it is the only solution to chronic traffic problems on the existing M4 around and through Newport, which are seen as a barrier to economic growth across south Wales.

Supporters believe that the environmental impact of the project, which will involve around 15 miles of new road, can be mitigated by a range of measures.

The public inquiry, which began almost 13 months ago, has involved scores of witnesses and thousands of pages evidence submitted both in support of and against the project.