Proposed plans to install a roundabout at a “dangerous” junction have been scrapped following a review of road building projects in Wales.

The Welsh Government announced on Tuesday that all major road building projects in Wales have been ditched over environmental concerns, and published the results of a wide-ranging roads review by a panel of experts.

The announcement, made by Deputy Minister Lee Waters in the Senedd, affects more than 50 road-building projects around Wales.

A scheme to improve safety at the A470/A438 Pontybat crossroad junction was among those to be scrapped this week. The plans, which were part of the Mid Wales Safety Schemes Programme, would have seen a roundabout installed at the junction.

The Welsh Government announced that it was backing the panel’s recommendations to scrap all safety schemes along the A470 and A487 in Powys and Ceredigion.

In a 2021 Welsh Government consultation document, the Pontybat crossroad junction was identified as one of the “priority schemes” in the programme. The document noted there had been 10 collisions on or near to the junction in the previous five years and said that high mainline traffic speeds make it difficult for A470 southbound traffic to enter the junction safely.

But an independent panel noted this week that the Pontybat junction is not “a collision cluster site” although added that collisions at the junction should be kept under review to see if there’s a case for “a low-cost Local Safety Scheme or roundabout without differential acceleration lane”.

Councillor Tom Colbert (Bronllys and Felin-Fach), said he is disappointed to see the plan for this junction scrapped.

“The Welsh Government seems to be ditching these important schemes, like Pontybat Junction, on the pretext of climate change,” he said.

“Pontybat is really a road safety issue and has little, if anything, to do with climate change. I really do not understand this decision.”

The decision to scrap the scheme was put in the spotlight on Monday after police were called to a collision that occurred at the junction.
 Dyfed-Powys Police attended the incident at the A438 in Bronllys, on the junction with the A470, at around 4:40pm.

Two cars and a van were involved, and two people were taken to hospital by ambulance.


Also now axed are safety schemes for the A470 at Llangurig, the A470 at Llanidloes, the A487 at Llanrhystyd and the A487 at Machynlleth. The Welsh Government spent a combined £1.2m on these schemes.

The review said these safety plans will “not be progressing in any form at this stage”, but said that “revised plans” could be considered in future.

The scheme at the A40 at Millbrook Farm, Brecon will be progressing.

The roads review was announced by the Deputy Minister in June 2021 freezing all road building projects.
 An independent panel was then created and tasked with reviewing the projects considered part of the review.

The panel, led by transport consultant Dr Lynn Sloman MBE, presented its findings to the Welsh Government in September 2022 and were made public this week.

Of the 59 schemes identified by the panel, with 46 making it to this final decision stage (8 were excluded as out of scope or with insufficient information) 15 will be 'progressing’, 2 have been ‘replaced by a new project’, 15 have been ‘superseded by a new programme’, 9 will ‘not be progressing at this stage’, 15 have been classified as 'local authority schemes, and 3 have been classed as 'economic development schemes’.

Deputy Climate Change Minister Lee Waters told the Senedd this week “we will not get to Net Zero unless we stop doing the same thing over and over”.


“Let me be very clear at the outset, we will still invest in roads,” he said.


“In fact, we are building new roads as I speak - but we are raising the bar for where new roads are the right response to transport problems.

“We are also investing in real alternatives, including investment in rail, bus, walking and cycling projects.


“Even if we’d wanted to keep progressing all the road schemes in the pipeline we just do not have the money to do so.

“With fewer resources it becomes even more important to prioritise and the Roads Review helps us to do that.”

The move to scrap road building projects was welcomed by Mid and West Wales MS Jane Dodds - who said that “for too long, we’ve spent millions on new roads with no real improvements in road safety or congestion where we need it most."


“I welcome today’s announcement and the intention to divest from pollution-intensive sectors.”

But MS for Brecon and Radnorshire James Evans said new roads “desperately” need to be built in Wales.


“It’s sad to see Labour riding roughshod over the needs of people in Wales,” he said.

“We desperately need new roads to be built, especially when the state of public transport is so bad.


“This roadbuilding freeze will only restrict the Welsh economy and leave us trailing further behind the rest of the UK.”