Written question WQ83916

The legal limit for nitrogen dioxide (NO2 - 40 µg/m3 annual mean) is being exceeded along the M4 around Newport between J25 and J26.

Newport also has 11 Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) which were declared because national air quality objectives were not being met as a result of traffic emissions. Five of these are located along the M4.

Under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995, local authorities have a duty to review and assess air quality in their areas and to publish an Air Quality Action Plan setting out the actions which can be taken to improve air quality in their AQMAs. Further information about the action Newport City Council is taking can be found in their Air Quality Progress Report and Sustainable Travel Strategy.

Our supplemental Plan to the UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations 2017 sets out the action we are taking to deliver urgent compliance with the annual mean limit value on the M4 between J25 and J26.

A reduced 50mph speed limit was set to operate overnight (between 9pm and 6am) via the Variable Speed Limit in May 2018, changing to a maximum 50mph speed limit at all times from February 2019. Speed emission curves indicate this is likely to be the speed at which vehicles emit the lowest level of oxides of nitrogen (NOx).

Efforts to improve our air quality and achieve our climate change commitments will require a reduction in the number of vehicles in congested urban areas where poor air is most acute. Our Wales Transport Strategy, Llwybr Newydd, is geared towards improving air quality in our towns and cities by making active travel the natural choice for short trips, and public transport the choice for longer ones.

The work of Lord Burns and the South East Wales Transport Commission (SEWTC) looked closely at air quality in Newport. The final report sets out a plan for a modern public transport system for Newport, which will ease congestion around the M4 and improve air quality for residents of the city. We now have a dedicated delivery unit set up in Transport for Wales to implement these measures and are working closely with Newport City Council to make them a reality.

We are pressing ahead with designing high quality bus and cycle routes between Newport and Cardiff, and looking at how the important Old Green roundabout in central Newport can be improved.

We have also extended the 50mph speed limit on the M4 from J24 to J28 in response to the fast-track measures recommended by SEWTC to help tackle congestion.

More widely, the 58 Burns recommendations point to the need for improvement of the South Wales main line and six new stations, including at Newport East and West. Better access to the electrified rail network for Newport will not only enhance air quality, it will improve equitable access to employment and services for all.

I’m pleased Sir Peter Hendy has endorsed the ‘Welsh way’ of improving transport across Wales in his review of union connectivity. He does not resurrect plans for an M4 relief road as a way of relieving congestion on the M4 around Newport. Instead, the Union Connectivity Review calls for the Burns Commission recommendations to be implemented including upgrading and building new stations on the existing South Wales main line.

In the absence of the appropriate devolution of rail infrastructure and a fair funding settlement, we need the UK Government to fulfil its responsibilities for funding and improving the rail network in Wales. Despite the clear benefits this would bring to encouraging modal shift, the UK Government has consistently rejected our request and continuously failed to invest in Wales.

The categorisation of HS2 as a project that benefits England and Wales by the UK Treasury further scuppers our ability to invest in rail in Wales and we continue to call on the UK Government work with us to reverse its historic under-funding of rail infrastructure in Wales and deliver our ambitions for improving transport in the region.