“The Welsh Government recently announced funding of £55m for active travel, which I understand is designed to encourage local authorities to be ambitious and encourage cycling and walk to work routes.
Do you think that Carmarthenshire plan for a cycle path between Llandeilo and Carmarthen is both ambitious and innovative to qualify for this pot of money or will the Deputy Minister of Transport and Local AS Lee Waters throw another spoke in the wheel?”
Minutes:
“The Welsh Government recently announced funding of £55m for active travel, which I understand is designed to encourage local authorities to be ambitious and encourage cycling and walk to work routes. Do you think that Carmarthenshire plan for a cycle path between Llandeilo and Carmarthen is both ambitious and innovative to qualify for this pot of money or will the Deputy Minister of Transport and Local AS Lee Waters throw another spoke in the wheel?”
Response by Councillor Hazel Evans, Executive Board Member for Environment:-
“The Tywi Valley Cycle Path is a great opportunity to showcase the best of Carmarthenshire. The project is ambitious and will bring great economical, environmental and social benefits to the area. From an economic perspective studies have shown it would deliver between £800k to £2.4m per annum to the area generating between 17 and 47 jobs at a time of great need for the tourism sector. From an active travel perspective the path links 5 communities, not including Carmarthen and Llandeilo, to each other along the Towy Valle, y as well as to employment, hospitals, education and the retail sector. It will provide communities and visitors with a safe and attractive alternative to the A4 trunk road which has a high number of personal injury accidents. A review of available casualty data for the Towy Valley study area shows that 17 accidents were recorded along the A40 in the 5 years prior to 2018 – this included 2 fatal collisions. From an environment perspective the path would provide a huge opportunity for people to travel sustainably whilst enjoying the benefit of our great county. The walking and cycling paths travel through an area with an abundance of biodiversity. I appreciate the need to decarbonise, the need to promote active travel, the need to improve the wellbeing of our nation and the need to exploit opportunities arising from the visitor economy as society comes out of the covid pandemic. The Deputy Minister has encouraged authorities to be ambitious. He stressed in a meeting last week that if a section of, for example a disused railway line provided it linked communities, it could qualify for grant funding. We have active travel masterplans for each of our major towns and settlements. We also include the Towy Valley path which is an outstanding project that will help our communities recover from the catastrophic effects of the last 12 months and deliver benefits for all including help. We have submitted a grant bid again this year via the Local Transport Fund Grant Programme to support our work to deliver the path. We can only hope that the Deputy Minister will support our ambition to see this project delivered for our communities, provide a first class attraction for tourists and deliver on the potential annual economic benefits to the county, particularly the tourism and hospitality sectors that have been so badly hit during the last 12 months. Our ambition is to see this path completed.”