A controversial scheme to build a £1.4bn motorway through the Gwent Levels in south Wales has been scrapped by the Labour-led Welsh government. But it has angered many business leaders and some opposition politicians who believed the M4 relief road was needed to ease congestion on the main route into south Wales. The project would have been the most expensive infrastructure project the Welsh government had embarked on. The Gwent Wildlife Trust was among the fiercest opponents of the scheme, fearing it would devastate the levels, home to otters, water voles and wading birds. “The Gwent Levels population is one of its two remaining strongholds in the whole of the UK,” the charity said, adding that the crane had also recently returned to breed on the levels after an absence of more than 400 years.

Source: The Guardian June 04, 2019 13:22 UTC