Madam,

Gwynedd Council has so far spent £773,000 of public money trying to design the Llanbedr bypass. This is despite the fact that they were warned at the start that the chosen route was not suitable and would not comply with government policy on flood plains. Natural Resources Wales, who have repeatedly warned Gwynedd Council about their plans, have now concluded in a letter to the Snowdonia National Park planning authority, dated 12 February, that “…we (would) have no option but to object to the development on flood risk grounds”. Independent flooding experts have also warned Gwynedd Council that not only is their plan against government policy but it will also lead to increased flood risk to properties in Llanbedr.

In addition, recently published photo montages showing the proposed road clearly demonstrate that it would have a devastating impact on the visual amenity of the National Park and residents of Llanbedr, despite the fact Gwynedd Council has tried to manipulate the pictures to lessen the visual impact.

It is now time for Gwynedd Council to stop wasting our money, withdraw this flawed application and replace it with sensible solutions which include off-street car parking, pavements, speed restrictions, yellow box hatching at the junctions and realignment of the A496/Mochras Road junction. These could probably all have been achieved for the money spent on design consultants!

If the Enterprise Zone does develop as we would like it to (noting, though, that it has already been there for six years, cost the taxpayer a reported £2.1m and produced less than six jobs so far) then a simple access road from the A496 directly into the airfield, totally avoiding the flood plain, would be the best environmental and financial option.

Yours etc,

Robin Ward, Llanbedr community councillor.

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