Fflint Wrecsam MS presses First Minister on A55 and A494 investment
The Welsh Government has made no specific commitment to road investment on the A55, A483 and A494 after a north Wales MS raised their importance for businesses in Flintshire and Wrexham.
Sam Rowlands MS (Conservative, Fflint Wrecsam) asked First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth during questions in the Senedd on Tuesday whether the new Plaid Cymru administration would honour and extend road improvement commitments made by the previous Welsh Government in north-east Wales.
“My constituency of Flint Wrexham is probably most affected by those economic relationships with north-west England,” Mr Rowlands told the Senedd, “and businesses there tell me of the importance of a road network, in particular those artery routes of the A55, A483 and the A494.”
He noted that the previous Government had made commitments toward improving those roads toward the end of the last Senedd term, and asked whether the new administration would continue and extend that work.
The First Minister said the Government is committed, through the work of the Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy and the Deputy Minister for Transport, “to making sure that we have infrastructure that really works for us in terms of creating economic and societal opportunities.” He added that this includes “making sure that we have the robust road network that we need and making the necessary investments there.”
No commitment was given to the specific routes Mr Rowlands named. Mr ap Iorwerth also set out the Government’s intention to drive “modal shift” away from car use through investment in trains and buses.
The exchange came during a wider question on north Wales’s economic links with the north-west of England, opened by Adrian Mason MS (Reform, Clwyd). Mr Mason told the Senedd that north Wales communities look east to Chester, Liverpool and Manchester rather than south to Cardiff for their economic connections, and pressed the First Minister to shape policy around “how this part of Wales actually works.”
Mr ap Iorwerth said the Welsh Government takes a “Wales-wide perspective” and does not view policy from a “Cardiff Bay or Cathays Park perspective.”
For communities along the Deeside corridor, the question has a direct edge. The A55 is the primary artery for Deeside Industrial Park, one of the largest employment sites in Wales, and connects Connah’s Quay, Shotton, Queensferry and Flint to Chester and the north-west England motorway network. The Deputy Minister for Transport, Mark Hooper, was not present at the question session. The new Government’s position on specific road schemes in north-east Wales has not yet been set out in a formal statement to the Senedd.
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