THE controversial M4 Mark 2 road proposed around Newport has been back in the headlines over the past week or two.

Representatives from some business groups like the IOD Wales and CBI Wales have been calling on the Welsh Government to press ahead with the £1bn folly or the Black Route as it is better known. The Federation of Small Businesses Wales, however, has declared its firm opposition to this scheme.

In the meantime, the Welsh Government is continuing spending millions of pounds preparing for a scheme few people want – including two of its own former Labour Environment Ministers as well as backbench Labour Assembly Members.

It will spend £4m in this financial year and another £7m next year on preparation works for this disastrous scheme – which is throwing more money down the drain.

Plaid Cymru, of course, wants to see the traffic congestion on the M4 resolved – who wouldn’t? But it is the wrong choice of route.

There is a much cheaper alternative – known as the Blue Route - which has been proposed costing just over one-third of the Black Route and it would also leave money to improve infrastructure across the whole of Wales, including those areas of south east Wales I represent outside the immediate Newport M4 corridor.

The Blue Route, because it is more acceptable to environment groups, can be delivered far quicker and, therefore, congestion issues resolved much earlier.

The Welsh Government has also drafted in expensive London lawyers to state their case in the battle with Friends of the Earth Cymru, which is seeking a Judicial Review of the Black Route proposal, which will lay tarmac over part of the Gwent Levels wetlands area, one of the most sensitive environmental sites in Wales and in the UK as a whole. What a legacy for our children and their children!

Last week during questions to the Transport Minister, I raised the issue of developing the South Wales Metro in south-east Wales. It will have far greater economic benefits for people in valley communities such as Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent, than the proposed Black Route.

The Welsh Government seems hell-bent on blowing all their major infrastructure money on one ill-thought out scheme. Sometimes you have to recognise that you have got it badly wrong and pull out. Has the Welsh Government got the guts to admit that? I hope so.