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"The Welsh Government has been left stuck with a bizarre property portfolio worth £22m after scrapping plans for a relief road by the Severn Bridge.
Mark Drakeford is refusing to sell homes bought with taxpayer money to make way for the road, despite vowing never to complete the project.
Dozens of properties previously subject to compulsory purchases so that the M4 relief road could be built have been left in limbo since the Welsh first minister controversially decided to axe the plan in 2019, according to a Freedom of Information Act request. None of the buildings or sites have been sold since 2019, the Labour administration confirmed.
Some 38 properties were bought at a cost of £24.6m, according to Government filings, with just seven subsequently sold since, raising £2.1m.
Conservative leaders said that the debacle was evidence that Mr Drakeford “couldn't run a bath, let alone the sale and resale of commercial properties”.
Proposals to build a second motorway south of Newport were abandoned by Mr Drakeford despite protests from Welsh business leaders.
The relief road was intended to address chronic congestion on the crossing into Wales. Companies such as Budweiser, which has a large brewery on the road to Newport, had resorted to adapting its supply chains to deal with frequent delays on the motorway.
Some £150m had been spent over three decades on planning for the 14-mile stretch of road that would have provided a boost to the Welsh economy.
However, Mr Drakeford insisted that there was no “compelling case in the public interest” to build the new motorway, citing environmental concerns as he overruled the Planning Inspectorate.
The new revelations about the failure to sell off the properties involved in the project has sparked a fresh wave of anger.
Welsh Conservative Shadow Transport Minister Natasha Asghar said: “Mark Drakeford cancelled the M4 relief road, against the advice of independent experts, the people of South Wales and his own party’s manifesto. The Labour Government in Wales quite literally spent £150 million of taxpayer money on a road to nowhere.
“This is a classic example of an out of touch band of incompetent socialists in Cardiff Bay who frankly couldn’t run a bath, let alone the sale and resale of commercial properties.
“It is our view that all of these properties should be tenanted or sold to recuperate the costs imposed on the taxpayer.”
A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: “We are working with the local authority to establish if any of the properties along the route are suitable for social housing schemes. If any of the properties are deemed not suitable for housing, we will consider selling them.”
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