There is a carved stone that has sat in the bridge in Llanbedr and been weathered by the elements for almost four centuries. The next time you’re passing through the village, look carefully and you can make out the faded outline of a hammer along with the date of 1649. Yes, chances are you will have ample time to admire the mason’s chiselled work, for traffic rarely through this village quickly.

Llanbedr is stuck in time.

I am no expert in mid-17th century civil engineering and cannot offer when the structure built 372 years ago was widened. It obviously was, and there is a black-and-while photograph hanging on the wall of the Victoria Inn that shows the bridge as it is now, and the image was taken in 1895.

On some days behind the counter of that watering hole, you’ll by served by Ruthie Owen, a 27-year-old mother of two young children. Ask her about the bridge and the traffic and she’ll quickly recount how she, pushing her double pram for her toddler boy and girl along the narrow footpath over the bridge, were brushed by a luxury SUV.

That’s a frightening experience for anyone. It should never have happened. Every resident of Llanbedr can tell you a similar frightening tale. Sadly, there will be many more such tales for the foreseeable future.

Llanbedr is stuck in time with a bridge that’s dangerous.

In the summer, after a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Birmingham or Manchester, it can take another two hours to get through this village. The Victorians would have fared much better. And so too the mason with the chisel. That’s how far Llanbedr’s thoroughfare has progressed.

The tale of Llanbedr’s bypass might seem as twisted as parts of the A496 itself. The reality is far more convoluted, with more U-turns and dead ends.

Llanbedr is a community that has been let down by public representatives at every level of local, Welsh and United Kingdom government dating back over six decades. I do not generally include the current crop of local representatives in that damning statement, but the long history of broken promises and failed projects does indeed tarnish politicians of every ilk. Having typed that, I can hear the indignation in full voice and hand-wringing in full flurry. But Conservative, Labour, Lib-Dems and Plaid all share a healthy portion of blame.

All have had a taste or a share of power over the past six decades. All have failed to deliver on plans that have been sitting on drawing boards for six decades in ministries in London and Cardiff.

Plaid? Yes, it carries a portion of blame. It’s all fine to promote signing a deal of support for the Labour government in the Senedd last month, but do you think for one minute there was a thought given to the Llanbedr bypass project by Plaid MSs as they signed off on the non-coalition coalition agreement? Was it raised?

Conservatives? For them, local authority meant local austerity, devolved or not. And the Lib-Dems gladly assisted when they sat at the table.

Labour? No sooner had first Minister Mark Drakeford plonked his backside on the train seat (try doing that from the railway stations up the Cambrian line) and headed to the Cop26 summit in Glasgow than the bypass was shelved. And that bitter blow came weeks after his lot finally approved it in the first instance.

It’s one thing for the Welsh government to burnish its environmental credentials on the world stage in Glasgow and pull the plug on the project. If that were true, the decision might be little more palatable. It is not. How do you calculate the carbon emissions of hundreds of cars, vans, and trucks as they idle or crawl for hours at a time trying to pass through Llanbedr.

Green commitment? Next time you drive the A496, try counting the number of electric charging stations available – but just don’t hold your breath. Save it for pushing your electric car.

When you sit in traffic, try placing a mobile phone call – hands free, of course. Good luck trying to find a signal. And good luck trying to find decent broadband service either.

This region of Wales has been ignored for far too long by far too many. If it wasn’t, there would be a bypass ¬ and not just at Llanbedr either but in the many other chokepoints up and down the Cambrian coast.

If it wasn’t ignored for too long by too many, then why do you have to travel to the A55 on the north coast or down south towards Swansea or Cardiff, or east to Wrexham for a stretch of dual carriageway?

If it wasn’t, why are our train services so poor, or buses so expensive? Mobile signals so crap?

No, Llanbedr now is but the gravest symptom. We have all been bypassed for too long.

And why do we put up with that?