KEVIN Ward writes very confidently about the need for the M4 relief road but he is ignoring some serious objections to the project.
The first objection – highlighted in the Argus earlier this week - is air pollution, especially from vehicle exhausts, which causes an estimated 29,000 deaths per year from various lung diseases.
Backing this up, five south Wales towns, including Newport and Chepstow, have been “named and shamed” by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for breaching safety levels for air pollution. 
Is a new road likely to make this situation better or worse?
I don’t expect that Kevin Ward or many of your readers get too worried about climate change but the threat that it poses is extremely serious. 
The UK and other economically advanced nations have a moral obligation to make big reductions in their emissions of carbon dioxide. 
Since vehicle exhausts are a major source of this gas, public policy must aim at reducing the number of vehicles on our roads and the mileage they do.
The idea that we should lay waste to huge amounts of our precious countryside in order to build ever more roads must be regarded as a modern form of heresy. 
We are the temporary occupants of this planet and we have an obligation to leave it in a fit state for future generations. 
Finally, there is the cost, upwards of £1.2 billion. The Welsh Government has better things to do with our money.
 
Clive Shakesheff
Lewis Way
Chepstow