Welsh transport minister Lee Waters (pictured) has told Highways the devolved nation could lose engineers due to its new, restrictive criteria for building roads but insisted young professionals would be attracted to the challenge of working in line with the UK’s 2050 net zero target.
Mr Waters conceded that highway engineers had previously left for England after the Welsh Government abandoned the M4 Relief Road at Newport in 2019: ‘If that’s their professional objective, then I wish them well.’
However, he added there was an opportunity in Wales to think creatively and take new approaches to design, maintenance and road space reallocation ‘which they can then deploy elsewhere’.
‘It’s an exciting opportunity for the industry. You speak to people coming into the profession and in the early stages of their careers – they get it absolutely, but I don’t underestimate what a cultural challenge it is to people who have been used to operating a certain way for a long time,’ he said.
He also argued the rest of the UK would likely take the same path in due course and that smaller companies would have more opportunities to bid for work in Wales because the highways budget would fund many smaller schemes rather than a few flagship major ones.
Ed Evans, director of CECA Wales, accepted that point: ‘We have seen this happening with the increased investment in generally smaller active travel type schemes, particularly over the COVID period, and that has certainly benefitted a number of Welsh SMEs.’
Although, Mr Evans added larger Welsh contractors might need large projects to be able to sustain their operations and workforces, which contribute hugely to the Welsh economy.
He also agreed that there could be opportunities in Wales for businesses as ‘first movers’ in the net zero field, but warned of a gap between policy and practice across the Welsh public sector when it came to low carbon infrastructure, such as accepting alternative lower carbon materials or techniques.
The ‘adversarial and transactional culture’ should be replaced by rewarding businesses for bringing their skills and expertise to the table in materials technology, low carbon plant and innovative practices' he said.
'The expertise is arguably already there, but there is a reluctance from the public sector to allow them to innovate.'
The Welsh Government’s response last month to the Welsh Roads Review Panel’s final report left many of the 51 schemes which were reviewed neither abandoned nor confirmed. Some could be modified to match the new funding criteria, and the £400m Third Menai Crossing is not yet ruled out.
Although the updated National Transport Delivery Plan in Wales has outlined a pipeline of schemes for the next five years, Mr Evans concluded: 'We need to see fully funded pipelines of work put in place so that businesses can plan for the future and secure and upskill their workforces.'
