The "easy read" version of yesterday's announcement by the Welsh government is in a pdf here. Its aims are a restatement of last year's document and what I would describe as "mam and cawl", difficult to disagree with. What has sparked controversy is what follows in the Government's Roads Review, also published yesterday. The headline is that, while existing commitments will be honoured, the future road-building programme will be scrapped. It has been difficult to find details on the Web, but reports on Radio Wales suggest that while the Heads of the Valleys scheme will be completed, major schemes in North Wales which dominated the future roads programme, will be scrapped unless they fit the new criteria. The most significant criterion is that no new road construction shall generate extra traffic. So the proposed third crossing of the Menai Strait will fall. Needless to say, this is aggravating the political north-south divide and strains within the Labour/Plaid partnership. In response, Labour points out the cut of 8% from the UK contribution to the Welsh budget in respect of highways forcing their hand.
Environmentalists have welcomed the proposed new strategy, though with serious reservations about the effect on people living outside the metropolitan areas. Infrequent or unreliable public transport services in rural areas need to be improved urgently if the aim of reducing car use is to be achieved.
The Westminster government has taken a different line. It is not against personal car ownership as such, but is insisting that the future is electric. However, neither London nor Cardiff are facilitating the network of charging stations which will be necessary.
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