IT IS a great pity that alternatives to the M4 relief road have not been given sufficient airing.

We seem to prefer the grand scheme, built at huge environmental cost, to smaller solutions that would offer better value for money.

An example of the lack of a small investment which would help right now is the failure to enforce the existing variable statutory speed limits on the M4 on the approaches to the Brynglas tunnels. This would reduce the risk of accidents (and the consequential delays) and improve traffic flows.

The cost of the proposed relief road will not be far off £1 billion. Surely we can find better solutions than spending so much money concreting over the countryside to the south of Newport.

Simon Brook Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales Newport