GUEST COLUMN:
Chris Sutton
Chartered Surveyor
Weight restrictions on the original Severn Bridge near Chepstow mean that Heavy Goods Vehicles over 7.5 tonnes are now banned for an initial period of 12-18 months.
Introduced on 27 May 2025, these restrictions are designed to protect the near 60-year-old bridge from further damage, with the main suspension cables found to be suffering from corrosion.
In 2024 roughly 32,000 vehicles a day used the M48 Severn Bridge, of which 10% were HGVs. Many of these now face a 14-mile diversion. The bridge will, however, remain open to emergency vehicles, buses, gritters and recovery vehicles.
This measure has a clear impact on south Monmouthshire, but also affects the entire haulage industry in Wales. Until recently, HGVs could use four lanes each way over two bridges but can now only use two lanes each way over the Second Severn Crossing – a halving of motorway road capacity.
With the northbound dual carriageway on the A40 north of Monmouth closed for the last 18 months due to a rockfall, there is a lack of resilience in the strategic road transport links into South Wales – roads which are the route to market for two-thirds of the Welsh economy.
The Severn Bridge restriction has an immediate impact upon Chepstow and Caldicot, not least Newhouse Park, the only dedicated logistics park in Wales with a direct motorway spur. There is more than 1.5 million sq ft of dedicated distribution floorspace at Newhouse Park, including Asda’s ambient distribution centre. HGVs must now transit via the Magor roundabout (J23, M4), eight miles west, in order to go eastwards. This is already causing congestion at peak times on the M4 as HGVs queue to exit at Magor.
Newhouse Park is a dedicated warehousing park with planning mainly restricted to use class B8 warehousing, and there are also certain restrictive covenants. Monmouthshire Council, one of the most forward-thinking local authorities in Wales, are ‘on it’, and are alert to the planning issues here.
Responsibility for maintaining both bridges was transferred to National Highways at the same time as the abolition of the tolls in 2019, thanks to the efforts of the then Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns.
With an estimated cost for repairing the cables put at £300 million – £600 million, Welsh Government has dodged a bullet here. Factor in the ongoing resurfacing to the Prince of Wales Bridge through to 2026 and even the Leys Bend rockfall on the A40 north of Monmouth, just a few hundred metres into England, and the repair and maintenance bill is substantial for National Highways.
Will the cables be repaired in 12-18 months or is this the start of a permanent restriction? There is clearly pressure on public funding but there may simply be no long-term technical solution in an era of ever-increasing transport loads.
The view from this side of the Bridge should be to hope for the best but prepare for the worst. At a local level, to improve links into south Monmouthshire, can Welsh Government use the ‘Cardiff Gate’ link road model and put a direct link from the M48 to the M4 somewhere around the former toll plaza? Or a direct spur from the M48 westbound to the M4 eastbound to cut the corner? Also, can the 50mph restriction on the M48 be reviewed?
At a regional level, since the cancellation of the M4 Relief Road in 2019, there has been little focus from Welsh Government upon the M4 Corridor Around Newport (M4CAN). When the previous version of the Relief Road was cancelled in 2008, Welsh Government undertook significant compensation works including the upgrade of the dual carriageway through Llanwern and replacement of the central barrier. There were no such works following the 2019 cancellation.
For all that the Burns Review new railway stations are welcome, they do not address the resilience of a section of dated motorway that the Planning Inspector described close to a decade ago as ‘not fit for purpose’.
Where does this leave the haulage sector in Wales? Road haulage remains central to the Welsh economy – but the industry is unloved and seemingly ignored, not least by the planning system. It is a sector which is ‘larger than local’ and whose needs are certainly not catered for by the current LDP framework.
With the regional Strategic Development Plans still years away, there is a need for an interim strategy for this sector. Where is the allocation for a 100+ acre bespoke distribution park, the city fringe urban logistics parks, food ‘dark stores’, or increased multi-modal capacity?.
If we do not provide this, we will continue to export our distribution jobs to Avonmouth and may find that some of our ‘just in time’ manufacturers decide to follow.
Chris Sutton is a chartered surveyor and a Director of Sutton Consulting Limited. This article is written in a personal capacity.
