A CONSULTATION into footpath provision in Llanrhystud has made some progress following months of delays, but pupils say it is dangerous to go to school and they need a footpath “so nothing bad happens”.
A meeting has been held to discuss plans to build a footpath in Llanrhystud, which is needed so people can walk through the village without having to go along dangerous roads with no pavement. It was supposed to be complete in 2023/2024, but work has still not begun.
One pupil said: “It won’t be done before I leave school, but at least my younger brother will get to use it.”
A teacher from the school said: “It’s taken a long time to get here.
“Some solutions are better than others, but I don’t feel like any one is a 100 per cent solution.”
The Llanrhystud Community Council Road Safety Group - a subcommittee of local experts set up to look into the work on behalf of the community council - produced an application in 2022 for funding as part of the Welsh government’s Safe Routes in Communities Scheme.
However, the rules of application meant it had to be sent by Ceredigion County Council.
The Welsh Government told the council the project needed to be widened to include active travel plans for the whole village. The council was given funding to survey the area for possible routes where an active travel route could be built.
For the next 17 months, members of Llanrhystud Community Council were unsure if the plans would go ahead.
However, a meeting in the village memorial hall on Wednesday 6 September, attended by Ceredigion County Council, Llanrhystud Community Council, subcommittee Road Action Safety Group, and members of the public, gave them clarity.
It was proposed work could be carried out in phases, with the most dangerous areas of the village being addressed in phase 1. The aim is for work to begin on phase 1 by 2024/25.
A spokesperson for Ceredigion County Council said: “Given the identified priorities, the scale and scope of the work, along with the funding requirements involved in delivering a scheme of this nature, may mean that it will need to be delivered in phases.”
Gwyn Evans is a Llanrhystud Community Council councillor and a councillor for Ceredigion County Councillor.
He said: “Not everyone will have come out of this feeling happy, but everyone is walking away on the same page.
“There are no pavements on these roads, and cars are often parked on them, so people have to walk right in the middle of the road. It’s scary, and there have been several close incidents.
“We want to do something before there’s a really nasty event.
“We have been after this for two years already. But I will go to bed tonight in a better place than I did last night.”
The footpath is particularly important to the children of Myfenydd Primary School, with up to 100 pupils from the church school crossing the main road in Llanrhystud when they visit the church.