'No jobs on a dead planet' - former commissioner defends helping scrap M4 relief road

A former independent commissioner says she helped scrap the M4 relief road over concerns about the environment because "there are no jobs on a dead planet".

Sophie Howe made the comment on a BBC podcast after it was suggested the cancelled 14-mile (22km) motorway in Newport could have helped boost the economy.

Howe, who was the world's first future generations commissioner, described helping get dozens of other road projects cancelled including a third Menai crossing over concerns about the environment and wellbeing.

The Welsh government said it was reviewing options for the M4 around Newport after the previous Labour government under Mark Drakeford scrapped plans for a relief road in 2019.

The government had already spent £114m planning the road, and an inquiry it commissioned - which featured criticism of Howe - found the economic need for a road outweighed concerns about environmental damage.

Howe had been a Labour councillor and police and crime commissioner when she was appointed the first future generations commissioner for Wales in 2016, a role she held until she left in 2023.

The job meant she had to ensure the government and public bodies considered the long-term consequences of projects and policies.

She told BBC Radio 4's Radical podcast that while she could not veto decisions, she could scrutinise and advise ministers to make sure decisions also benefited people who were not yet born.

Howe said she was "generally not popular" with drivers still caught up in long queues on the stretch of the M4, but said plans for the six-lane scheme had been at odds with some of the Welsh government's core seven "wellbeing goals"., external

"The questions that I pose to the government there are: Can you explain to me how you've considered this decision is in line with the goal of a prosperous Wales, which talks about a productive, innovative, low-carbon society, because we're going to be increasing carbon emissions," Howe said.

When put to her that getting people to work at a reasonable time could be in the interests of a prosperous Wales, she replied: "Exactly that, and that is usually exactly what happens. Which is why, in these situations, economy always wins and environment always loses.

"But in the long term, there are no jobs on a dead planet. So you know you have to be considering this in the round."

Howe said the debate over the M4 had not played out as a simple "economy versus environment argument", and instead included questions over how it would fit in with things like making a healthier Wales, how it would boost social interactions, and how it would be in line with a more equal country.

"Because 25% of the lowest income families in this region don't own a car," she said. "So are you saying you're spending the entire of the government's borrowing capacity building something that benefits only the already better off?"

She said she "probably" would have taken the government to court had it gone ahead with the relief road and a Section 20 Review, external to make sure it fit in with wellbeing goals, but in the end she "didn't actually have to".

"The public arguments that we had, I suppose, were enough," she said, and agreed with the interviewer that she had an ally in Drakeford.

The former first minister said in 2019 he would not have gone ahead with the road even if it had been affordable, saying he "took a different view" to a planning inspector who had concluded the project would not have a disproportionately harmful impact.

The inspector's report criticised Howe, saying that a suggestion by her that the inquiry had not properly considered future generations legislation "were and are wholly unwarranted".

It said the M4 scheme had been "anything but short term", stating it had been a "long-term solution to long-term needs".

Howe told the podcast that money that would have been used to complete the £1.6bn stretch of motorway had since helped fund a "range" of other public transport interventions, including the South Wales Metro which was nearing completion.

Rail passengers increased by 19.1% for 2024-25, while the latest Transport for Wales figures showed a further 9.9% increase for 2025-26.

Howe also said she looked into every "pre-approved" road building scheme and asked the government to apply the same wellbeing tests to them, which had led to most being cancelled.

In 2023 the Welsh government scrapped all major road-building projects - including a planned third Menai bridge and a "red route" in Flintshire - after assessing 59 schemes, with only 15 smaller-scale projects given the green light. , external

The government said at the time it would not consider new projects unless they reduced carbon emissions, supported a shift to public transport, walking or cycling, and helped it adapt to the effects of climate change.

Since then, in 2025 the Flintshire road was revived in a proposed transport plan, and this year the new Plaid government was said to be reviewing options to build the third Menai bridge.

Howe said that since the creation of her former role, the United Nations had passed a declaration on future generations, Gibraltar had created a similar commissioner, and legislation and campaigns focusing on intergenerational fairness had been launched in other countries.

Bills to ensure governments account for the interests of future generations are in development in UK and Irish parliaments, but a proposal for a future generations commissioner was voted down in the Scottish Parliament in January.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: "A focused review of options which could improve conditions on the M4 around Newport is progressing.

"The deputy minister for transport will update the Senedd on the work next week."