14/05/2021
Climate change, new green jobs and recovery from the pandemic will be at the heart of the new Welsh Labour Government, as First Minister Mark Drakeford reveals his new Cabinet team.
The new climate change ministry will bring together the environment, energy housing, planning and transport portfolios, led by Julie James with Lee Waters as Deputy Minister.
First Minister Mark Drakeford said, “The environment will be at the heart of our decision-making. The climate change emergency has not gone away while we have been dealing with the pandemic.
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10/05/2021
Monmouthshire County Council has confirmed that the traffic lights on Bridge Street in Usk will be removed today, Monday 10th May, allowing for the return to two-way traffic. The decision has come following a review of the traffic management system and feedback from businesses and residents.
As Wales now enters Alert Level 3 of its COVID plan, with schools and the majority of businesses having reopened, the short-term interventions introduced by the council in 2020 have been re-evaluated. When the measures were introduced last year, the COVID-19 case rates across the county were significantly higher and the vaccine roll out had not taken place. Now, with more vehicles on the roads through Usk once again, the council has taken a view that benefits of the temporary traffic measures are being negated by the issues experienced recently by motorists and businesses.
A spokesperson for the council said: “The easing of lockdown restrictions and the reopening of schools and businesses have resulted in increased traffic volumes in Usk and we have been aware of longer queue times and queue lengths along Bridge Street recently. We are concerned that with the increased traffic levels, the temporary lights are no longer operating effectively and have concluded that now is the right time to remove them. Although pollution levels remain well below trigger levels, we are also concerned that increased queue lengths could result in a potential impact on air quality, which we want to avoid.
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05/05/2021
New speed limits are in place on Western Avenue (A48) to improve road safety and air quality on one of Cardiff's busiest roads.
A 30 mph limit - previously set at 40 mph - is now in place on Western Avenue in both directions between Ely Roundabout and Gabalfa Interchange.
Speed limits on the remaining stretch of Western Avenue have also been modified, with the following changes in place:
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27/04/2021
A series of Active Travel walking and cycling routes are set to be developed in parts of Swansea to help improve the local environment and keep people healthy.
Swansea Council has received more than £3million from the Welsh Government Active Travel programme which will be used to construct a number of shared use paths in communities across the city.
The new paths will link up with existing cycle and walking routes and help expand the overall cycling and walking infrastructure throughout Swansea.
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22/04/2021
North Wales Police is urging people to know the law surrounding electric scooters or e-scooters before purchasing or using one.
E-scooters have increased in popularity over recent years, but there can be a lot of confusion around where they can be used. They are currently only legal to ride on private land with the landowner’s permission, or as part of a Government trial.
The UK Government is currently taking part in ‘Future Transport Zone’ trials for e-scooter hire, with a view to making them legal to use on a road. At present, there are no trials in Wales.
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21/04/2021
Along with the gradual relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, the improving weather and lighter evenings will no doubt be inspiring many of us to get out and enjoy the picturesque rural scenery that Wales has to offer.
As well as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, horse riders are vulnerable road users but they can sometimes be overlooked as they don’t feature as highly in road casualties statistics.
Horses and their riders can be vulnerable on the road; a collision involving a horse and a vehicle can have life threatening consequences for the horse, the rider as well as the vehicle user.
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19/04/2021
Further work has taken place on a temporary active travel scheme in Llangollen. As part of the scheme in the town centre white lines have been painted on either side of the temporary rubber kerbs and bollards to make them more visible.
The temporary scheme was introduced to facilitate social distancing and make it easier for people to travel actively within the town centre.
Emlyn Jones, Denbighshire County Council’s Head of Planning and Public Protection, said, “Following some concerns a site inspection was undertaken by road safety engineers which found no issues of concern, however further work to enhance the scheme has taken place. This has included the painting of white lines.”
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15/04/2021
More than 40 drivers were reported for motoring offences as part of the latest phase of Operation Utah.
The multi-agency operation is designed to identify and tackle road users putting other motorists at risk – either by driving illegally or by driving vehicles not up to a safe standard.
The road safety operation took place on Friday, 9 April, at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) weighbridge and test site in Newport.
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14/04/2021
Caerphilly County Borough Council is continuing to take great strides in delivering on its commitment to help tackle the climate crisis and lower carbon emissions.
Public electric vehicle charge points were recently installed in 11 Council owned car parks in the county borough, as part of a Gwent-wide project which saw sixty-two new dual electric vehicle 22kw fast charging units installed at thirty-four sites across Gwent.
The project was delivered in partnership between the five Gwent local authorities. A grant of £465,000 was provided for the project from the UK Government’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), with match funding provided by each local authority.
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13/04/2021
Road safety works are underway across a bridge in a Swansea community in an effort to prevent accidents.
The railway bridge which crosses Pentre Road near Pontarddulais and is owned by Network Rail, is currently closed to traffic while maintenance work is completed.
Swansea Council has since been in discussions with Network Rail and has developed a road safety scheme to install a pavement across the bridge, helping pedestrians safely cross it once it reopens.
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