A community council has reached “breaking point” in its decades-­long fight for a life-safeguarding­ footpath through two villages on a busy main road.

Ysgubor y Coed Community Council has once again written to Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport, Ken Skates to ask why a plan has not been brought forward to create a footpath along the A487 through the villages of Furnace and Eglwysfach to safeguard residents.

Mr Skates, in his reply, said the Welsh Government has “no proposals to take forward any scheme in the short to medium term” despite an announcement last year that “funding had been allocated to undertake a detailed design of the footpath scheme”.

In its letter, the council said: “We as a community council have been campaigning since the mid 1930s for the creation of a pathway along the A487 through the villages of Furnace and Eglwysfach without success, but we now feel that the situation is at breaking point.

“We can no longer sit back and accept Welsh Government’s refusal to acknowledge this increasingly pressing situation.”

The council said the road is “increasingly busy” with large lorries – up to 80 a day – leaving pedestrians in danger.

“Our schoolchildren and elderly must walk along this extremely busy road,” the council said.

“Any parent brave enough to walk along this stretch of road is not only risking their own safety but also that of their children."

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