CONTROVERSIAL road closures to create pedestrianised ‘safe zones’ in some Ceredigion towns look set to return.

Ceredigion County Council officers are “working on the details” at the moment, Cabinet was told this morning (Tuesday).

At the Cabinet meeting, the authority’s chief executive Eifion Evans told members that plans for the return of safe zones are still being finalised.

Mr Evans said that officers “are working on the details at the moment.”

“We don’t have a definite date for publishing the information,” he said.

“There are still challenges to deal with.”

The scheme, which banned cars from town centres in Aberystwyth, Cardigan, New Quay and Aberaeron, was introduced last summer to give pedestrians more space, enabling them to socially distance.

The car ban was scrapped in New Quay in November and moved to two days a week in Aberystwyth.

Cardigan’s scheme was also scrapped in early November but reintroduced briefly following a spike in coronavirus cases in the town.

Ceredigion council shelved the scheme in the new year “until at least 1 February” after Wales went into a Tier 4 lockdown.

A move to reintroduce the scheme follows the gradual easing of restrictions in Wales, announced by First Minister Mark Drakeford on Friday.