Newtown bypass decision is imminent

A long-awaited decision on plans for a bypass in congestion-hit Newtown could be made this week. The Welsh Assembly has said it hopes to make an announcement by Friday.

More details on the scheme are also imminent.

It comes after Councillor Russell George, town and county councillor for Newtown, said he had written to economy and transport minister Ieuan Wyn Jones to demand the announcement on the preferred route.

He said that he had finally had a letter back.

"The letter said there had been teething problems but the introduction of a bypass hoped to make the traffic problem a lot better."

Plans for a Newtown bypass have been in the air for more than a decade, but the campaign came to a head this year, with the main roads jammed for up to five miles on a daily basis.

Motorists have complained about being left to wait up to 90 minutes to enter the town centre from the A483 Pool Road since the roundabout was dug up and replaced by traffic lights.

Councillor Joy Jones, town mayor, said she had received many complaints.

She said: "It is vital we get the bypass because the queues on the road now are putting people from across the country off from coming to Newtown.

"Along with many letters from local people, I have also received letters from a businessman from Telford who will no longer use the route, a man from Scotland who said he had driven across the country and never seen a road like it and worse of all, a couple who were going to a funeral in Aberystwyth and had to wait so long in Newtown they missed it.

"That must have been devastating and we can't stand here and let incidents like this just happen."