Editor

Friday morning last week, I had just dropped my seven and eight year old girls off at Talybont school and I was chatting with a local mother in the village. The all-too-familiar conversation of drivers speeding through the village came up, as is often the case since we all share the same concerns.

Despite the temporary 20mph speed signs being clearly lit up that day (they frequently are not), an articulated delivery lorry passed us at a speed that must have been approaching 40mph and it was possible to feel yourself being pulled toward the road by the slipstream as it hurtled by. We were shocked, outraged and concerned, as was another father who was recording the details. I have contacted the company’s customer services division and they are investigating the incident and hopefully will act on this.

A fundamental issue is that the “safe route to school” in Talybont is questionable at best. It is probably luck, and conservative parenting that has meant that there haven’t been any serious incidents over the years.

Very little effort has been put into creating a safe route.

Unfortunately, speeding isn’t a rare occurrence in Talybont and drivers often speed through the village, with lorries regularly travelling frighteningly fast throughout the day.

However, the police seem to be hamstrung due to a lack of funding and Go Safe, whose role is to provide road safety and speed enforcement, have only one van to cover the whole of Ceredigion.

As a community we are concerned that there will be a serious road traffic accident or fatality and we’ve contacted Plaid Cymru councillor Ellen ap Gwyn, AM Elin Jones and MP Ben Lake in the past to help tackle this problem. Both Ellen ap Gwynn and Elin Jones were happy to attend a meeting but so far all efforts have been ineffective.

Ellen ap Gwynn states the fact that the A487 is a trunk road and under the control of Welsh Government, which is true. But when asked how Bow Street, also on the A487, has managed to get trafficcalming measures in place that now include a pedestrian crossing outside Rhydypennau school, her reply changed to, “because they have a bigger population most probably”.

Elin Jones attended a meeting on this subject and has written to me insisting that “I continue to make the case for traffic calming, cycleways/walkways, and junction changes on the A487 north of Aberystwyth. However, as you will know, Plaid Cymru is not in government and the decisions are taken by the Labour transport minister.”

The 2021 elections for Wales are looming and whichever party you vote for please consider if they will actually represent your views and not let the powers that be treat Mid Wales like a green-desert, due to low population density and/or local political apathy, that endangers our communities and our children.

Dr David Bryant Talybont

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