The senior politician who has led the Welsh Government's decision to stop building new roads has claimed for nearly 12,000 miles of car journeys but only three train trips in the last four years.
Deputy Minister Lee Waters, who has responsibility for transport, has put 11,779.4 miles of car journeys on his Senedd expenses since he joined the Welsh Government cabinet in December 2018. The travel appears to be largely between his family home in Penarth and his constituency home in Llanelli. In the same period, Mr Waters has claimed for three train trips.
Mr Waters, a former head of sustainable travel charity Sustrans Cymru, has used his transport brief to call on people to "stop doing the same thing over and over" and to articulate the importance of people switching to public transport. When WalesOnline approached him for a response to his own travel habits, he said it was "often less practical to travel sustainably... for people with longer and more complex journeys", but that he has bought an electric bike which he took on the train to Llanelli.
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Data available on the Senedd website shows Mr Waters has made 37 claims for car mileage since December 14, 2018 when he first became a deputy minister - and just three claims for rail tickets.
The exact mileage of the car journeys is available, coming in at a total 11,779.4 miles - costing £5,300.74 in total. Only two of the three train tickets note the exact route taken (one single and one return from Llanelli to Penarth), equating to about 174 miles of travel and costing £65.30.
Plaid Cymru economy spokesperson Luke Fletcher MS said he could "expect scrutiny" on his travel expenses, saying: "If the destination is a greener Wales, then we have to help people to get there using greener routes.
"Everyone has a good reason for using their car, but what we need from Welsh Government is a viable, greener alternative so that more people are able to use public transport for their journeys. Without adequate investment in our public transport infrastructure, for too many people, the car is the only viable method and the Deputy Minister should expect scrutiny on this."
It's unclear exactly what the purpose of each of Mr Waters' journeys was, but the rail travel is between Penarth, where he has a family home, and Llanelli and his constituency where he also has a home. A train journey from Llanelli to Penarth takes approximately two hours, whilst in a car would take an hour and 20 minutes.
In total, since Mr Waters was elected to the Senedd he's expensed £14,186.98 of car travel and £440 of train travel. The most recent rail and car journeys were dated October 2022.
Responding to these reports, Mr Waters told WalesOnline: "Statistics show that most people’s journeys are simple and short and could be replaced by public transport where there is a good service. For people with longer and more complex journeys it is often less practical to travel sustainably.
"The reforms I’ve been leading are about changing the system to make it easier to use public transport than to go by car and that requires a shift in investment. I have recently swapped my car for an electric bike which I bring on the train to and from Llanelli, and when I'm in Cardiff I've regularly used my bike or walked."
Asked whether he still has a car, he said: "It is often not practical for everyone to use sustainable transport for every journey. I still drive but we are now a one-car family and so I mostly use my bike when I can.
"As I’ve said repeatedly, we are not saying that we will not be building any more roads or that we don’t expect car travel to be the dominant way of getting about. Our target is to reduce call mileage by 10% - not a revolutionary change, but a meaningful one that will help us achieve our carbon targets."
The Roads Review cancelled several major roads building projects and indicated that an future schemes shouldn't result in increased road capacity for cars and should focus on "shifting trips to sustainable transport to reduce carbon emissions" among other aims. This heavily restricts the type of project that would go ahead and Mr Waters is on record saying the controversial A465 dualling project wouldn't have gone ahead under these new criteria.
It should be noted that the numbers detailed are Mr Waters' expenses as member of the Senedd for Llanelli, not his use of a ministerial car.
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