South Wales hauliers challenge the Greens
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• Welsh hauliers are challenging environmentalists to come up with a better alternative following protests against last week's approval of two south Wales road schemes.
The Welsh Office has given the go-ahead to a £330 million motorway extension which will take pressure off the M4 at Newport, and also to a £160m upgrade of the A465 between Abergavenny and Neath. Angry Newport residents and conservationists have picketed the Welsh Office in Cardiff, claiming the roads would cause ecological damage.
But the decisions have been welcomed by the Freight Transport Association. Regional secretary for the South-West Barry Hodson says the road's route has already been altered for environmental reasons.
He adds: "The M4 through Gwent gets very congested at peak times, but this will give hauliers a much better route than they have at the moment."
The relief road is unlikely to be completed before the end of the decade, but Newport haulier Roger Sheddick believes it will cut times for hauliers heading for the south and west of Wales, as well as those catching ferries to Ireland at Fishguard.
He says: The current M4 stretch around Newport has too many junctions and gets heavily congested with local traffic. I can sympathise with the environmentalists, but I don't hear them coming up with any better suggestions."