Chancellor ‘will announce Newport M4 relief road in spending review’

William Graham, the Newport Tory AM for South Wales East, says it is likely the project will be included in the spending review on Wednesday.

He believes the chancellor will announce a funding deal which will allow the Welsh Government to build the road.

He told the Argus: “After campaigning for 29 years I think the M4 relief road is in sight. All indications are that the chancellor will include it next week.”

The Assembly Tory chief whip in the Assembly said it marks a “significant event in the history of South East Wales”.

That could include borrowing powers – although Mr Graham is hopeful that the Treasury will provide capital funding through the Welsh Government’s block grant.

It is believed that the route of the road would be broadly similar to that agreed in the 1990s – which proposed a road through the Gwent Levels.

Mr Osborne told reporters earlier this year that he backed the idea of an M4 Relief Road, but denied reports it would be tolled.

A Treasury spokeswoman said: “We will not speculate on the outcome of next week’s spending round.”

Mr Graham’s claims come as the Welsh Government awaits the UK Government’s response to the Silk Commission.

The Welsh Government’s negotiations on the M4 are tied up with its talks on the Silk Commission, which had proposed that Cardiff should have the power to borrow and to raise certain taxes.

The UK government is yet to announce its response to the review.

Lengthy history for the proposed M4 relief road

LONG-RUNNING SAGA: Some of the many stories the South Wales Argus published on M4 problems in Newport in recent years

THE M4 relief road project was originally proposed in the 1990s but has never seen the light of day.

For years, governments have sought a solution to the problem of capacity at the Brynglas Tunnels, and in 1991 Welsh secretary David Hunt announced a new motorway would be built.

That road would have stretched around Newport between Magor and Castleton and through the environmentally sensitive Gwent Levels, which includes sites of special scientific interest.

● In 1993 the then chancellor Ken Clarke said motorists would be charged to use the stretch.

● Transport projects were devolved to the Assembly in the late 90s. Welsh transport minister Sue Essex, shelved the plans in 2002, only for them to re-emerge two years later.

● In 2007 Plaid transport minister Ieuan Wyn Jones gave a possible opening date of 2013 – but in 2009 he shelved the plans because they were too expensive.

● A consultation was launched in 2012 on four other options to reduce congestion on the M4, including building a new tunnel at Brynglas that could see hundreds of homes demolished, but the results are yet to be published.

● Two years ago the Treasury said it would discuss options for improving the M4 with the Welsh Government, and earlier this year Mr Osborne told reporters that he backed a relief road denying reports it would be tolled.