Madam,

We wonder if it is time for the local newspaper to get behind the call for a speedy resolution in the issue of the proposed bypass for Llanbedr.

The bypass has been proposed for over 50 years and this year we got very close to it being started, until there was a call for further review of the wildlife habitat in the area.

Subsequently further investigations have been taking place and the resulting proposals may be ready for submission to Snowdonia park planning authority by October 2019, perhaps!

Some local residents have proposed the installation of traffic lights and a painted pathway to resolve the problem. But, we would need fiveway traffic lights at the road junctions within the village to allow vehicles access. If a painted footpath was put down there would be even less room for vehicles to pass. There are already problems when two large lorries come through the village in opposite directions. The increase in large lorries has been exacerbated by the new Brewit Bridge. A painted walkway would give users no protection against speeding traffic.

The increased urgency for the new road has been highlighted in the past two weeks as two accidents have occurred on the A496 in the village. Firstly an elderly lady was knocked down as she walked down to the village. She was flown to the North Staffordshire City General Hospital by the Wales Air Ambulance, with serious, life-changing injuries. The road was partially closed for five hours.

Then on 10 July (two weeks later), a further accident occurred a few yards from the first, on the same stretch of road, when a car came down the hill towards Llanbedr, struck the wall on the left, swerved across the road and hit the boundary wall on the right. The car was severely damaged, along with a boundary wall, Fortunately, although a busy period in the evening, no one was injured and no other cars, cyclists or pedestrians caught up in this accident. However this was a serious incident and tied up police time for over three hours.

These are among a series of near-misses, scrapes to the walls and pedestrians having to exercise high levels of care if they even venture onto the roadway to access the village amenities.

There is now an urgent need for action by Gwynedd council and the park authority to facilitate the start of the bypass before we do have a fatality!

Yours etc, Carol Richardson, Llanbedr.

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