Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru / National Assembly for Wales Y Pwyllgor Cyfrifon Cyhoeddus/ The Public Accounts Committee Trunk Roads Inquiry / Ymchwiliad Chefnffyrdd PAC(4) MTRI24 Ymateb gan Mr. Wilde Response From Mr. Wilde Darren Millar, Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, National Assembly for wales. Vear Mr . 1'''1i11ar , S,bject: Formal Complaint of serious maladmjnistration. Please find attached a copy of my complaint letter and report which I have lodged with the Auditor-General for Wales. The contents are self-explanatory and I would be most grateful if you will arrange for your Committee to examine the matter on a priority basis given the hjgh level of grave public concern. Please arrange for the prompt acknowledgement of this letter in o r der t o reassure me of safe receipt. y r;~~S,ince re ly. E.~V 27th December 2014. Auditor-General for wales, Dear Mr. Vaughan Thomas, Subject: FORMAL COMPLAINT OF SERIOUS MALADMINISTRATION 8Y PU BLIC DEPARTMENTS INVOLVED IN THE RE CONFIGU1U'fION OF THE A470 TRUNI{ IWAD AND ITS A4 94 AND A493 JUNCTIONS. DOLGELLAU, GWYNEDD. I present this formal complaint and t he ap pended repo rt , in the public interest, for your scrutiny, investigation and actions as appropriate. My report is derived from facts a nd infor mation whi c h i have gathered from various sources including discussions wjth officials fro m public departments involved as we ll as the Press, road users (resi~ and v visitors) and my personal experiences as a road user. r have annexed various relevant press cuttings to assist wjth background understanding. fhe consequential effects of this maladministration include serious jeopardy to public safety including the loss of life for at least two road users together with the scandalous wastage of public funds and the prospect of further costs to the public purse at a time oE continuing austerity, Clearly there is a need for ur g e nt remedial action not least to safeguard public safety but I am not seeki ng the Auditor-Generals intervention in this regard since this would not be appropriate. These issues wh~ch I have referred to j,n my report, are being addressed in other ways and in dee dar e the sub j e c t 0 fat I e a,s t two pub 1 i c pet i t. ion s . My chief concerns relate to how and why the problem arose in th e f i rst place. and how those responsible can be held to account for the consequences. 1 have not found it easy to obtain information from public departments involved, often finding myself going round in circles and gaining the impression of them being economical with the truth. The public has the right to expect that those publicly funded posts responsible for decision making, have the aptitude, knowledge and experince which is fit for purpose including those responsible for designing road layouts including those to whom such responsibilty has been 'contracted out' ' . I look forward to hearing from you in due course. Please arrange for this l et te~ to be acknowledged u rgently to reassure me o<f safe receipt. Yours sincerely, E.T.Wilde. ce. Darren Millar, Chairman, PUblic Accounts Committee, National Assembly Wale ~EPORT ON THe DI SASTROUS RECONFIGURATION OF THE A470 TRUNK ROAD AT DOLGELLAU AND THE A493 AND A494 JUNCTIONS . ---------------- ------------------------------------ BA CKG ROLJND . The or igina l l ayout was in place since 1981 and f o r 33 yea r s the r e have been public calls for r oundabouts to be installed . At least one Gw yne dd Co un c i llor has blame d the Snowdo nia Na tiona l Park Author it y Planning Committee f or obstr ucting t he i ns t a lla ti on of roundabouts. In my discussion with t he Parks He ad of Planning , thi s was denied . There is l ittle evidenc e of any me aningf ul publi c c onsultati o n by Gwynedd Cou nc i lor the Tr unk Road Agency re garding the new roa d l ayou t installe d in Apr il 201 4 . I t i s dis t urbing tha t Nor t h Wal e s Police apparently made no particular obj ec tion t o the new r oad l a yout . In my convers ation wi th a Pol ice Road Saf ety Officer , I was informed that wh i lst t hat Officer shared the popular view that a roundabout (s) would be preferable , he was 'persua ded' to suppo ~ t the deSign du e to the ' prec e de nt ' of that des ign e lswher e . It is not known if any official motoring organisation was asked for their vie' THE APRIL 2014 COMPLEfION OF THE NEW LAYOUT/RECONFIGU~ATION . It wa s with SHOCK AND HORROR that the motoring public whether they were local or vi si t or , c omm erc i al or pri vate had their f irst exper i e nce of the LUDICROUS AND DANGEROUS layout. The CRITICI SM AND CONDEMNATION has/D@d nstill i s UNIVERSAL . It i s INCONCEIVABL£ that such a layout could be implemented wi thout instant recognition of its FUNDAMENTAL FLAWS. Moceovec , that such a design could be produced AT GREAT PU BLIC iXPENSE by those so-called ' proffessionals ' overseen by ' managerial layers, is a NATIONAL DISGRACE. Within wee ks ACCIDENTS AND NEAR ACCIDENTS WER~ HAPPENING INCLUDING TWO fATALITIES. The situation was so bad that EMERGENCY TEMPORARY TRAFFIC LIGHTS WERE IN STA LLED AT THE A494 JUNCTION , in order to CANCEL OUT/OVERRIDE a scheme whi c h had cos t t he Tax pa ye r HUNDRE DS OF THOUSANDS OF POUND S . Th e r e is wi de public a gr e e ment that the o r dina r y man or woman in the street wit h a mod i c um of common sense could see that the design was at best CONFUSING TO THE ROAD USER and reflecting such a lack COMPETENCE in te~ms of i ts conception Public petiti ons have bee n lodged with th ~ AS8Ambly RESPONSI BILTY AND ACCOUNTABILITY . The re ha s not been a rush of thos e who have t8ken part in the fiasco . wishing to c ome f orwa r d an d acca pt blame C wyned~ Council were qu ick to tell me tha t " it was nothing to do with them" but rather the Assembly Government and its Trunk Roads Agency . The Agency disclaimed £esponsibility for the 2 . ' fla we d de s i gn' since tha t wo r k wa s put o ut to " EXTE RNAL CONSULTANCY " We be gi n t o see t he di s f unctiona l bu r ea uc ra t ic f or c e s a t work he r e e s pe c i a lly whe n we di scove r that t he consulta nt s we r e j f f a c t " GWYNEDD CON SULTANCY", a. creature o f Gwyne dd Co unc i l . In my c on versat io n wi th t he Hea d of tha t Consultanc y , it is confi r med tha t they we r e indeed commissioned to design t h e r oa d layout but dec line d to accept any r espons i bilit y fo r its f l a ws . Th e y justif y thei r perc eived impunity on the grounds that they we re s i mply fo llow ing t he Tr un k Roads Agenc y "br ief". They did o f c our s e confi r m tha t t h e y we re pai d a f ee f or the ' piece o f c ons ultancy wh i c h i n t ur n is paid by t he TAXPA YER · it i s no t known i f t he wo r k was s u bjec t t o t ender or favo ur . I am well aware of t he bu r den on the public purse through gr atuitous use of exte r na l c onsulta nc y by publicly funded bodies and I have r ead the N. A. O pa pers on the subj ect. I n the e a r ly days , the employmen t of exte r na l c onsult a nts was s een a s 'fashi onabl e ' though no t ne cessar i l y ma tche d by us e ful nes s or va lue f or money­ Nowadays it i s employe d r outinely , ofte n f r ivolously in support o f disfunc tiona a nd i ne pt bureaucracy, The pub l i c is i n effec t ' double-fund i ng pu bl i c pos ts . We r ea l ly canno t a f f ord to have the ma na ge rial l ayer s 'sna p ' the ir f i ng ers to summon a c ons ulta nt to do the ir thinking for them . Whilst we do not e xpe c t the Tr unk Road Agency to have any expertise in duck f a~ming, we do expect a high level of expertise and competence in Road design. THE ROLE OF TRAN 3PORT MINISfER EDWINA HART . The Mi nis t er has now s a id " We a re using ccrv ' to mo nitor dri ve r behavi our .