A Welsh Government minister has turned down an invite to visit Llandrindod Wells’ controversial active travel scheme because he ‘does not want to see what a mess has been created’ a Llandrindod Wells councillor said

Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport, Ken Skates said the next phase of the scheme is due to start this autumn.

In a letter to the town council he said the scheme has already been consulted on and the design team is actively engaging with local residents to ‘agree on the layout and address any specific concerns’.

“In light of this, I do not believe a visit to the town would be beneficial at this time,” he said.

The town council had written to Mr Skates following years of discontent and concern about public safety as a result of a widening of the pavements and a narrowing of the main A483 from the Automobile Palace along Wellington Road.

They have repeatedly said that in several places along the route larger vehicles have limited space to pass safely and are regularly seen mounting the pavement onto the Active Travel footpath to avoid collisions with other vehicles.

The council says this is a risk to the health and safety of all pedestrians using the walking route including those with buggies and mobility scooters.

“It now appears that kerbs are being reset due to the number of times these have been damaged as there is insufficient space for vehicles to pass safely along Wellington Road,” the council said.

They said the scheme has caused a large amount of concern within the town and it fuels regular outbursts and trails on social media, while cyclists are rarely seen using any of the other three existing active travel routes 

They urged Mr Skates to consider the impact the scheme is having on the health and safety of those using the routes.

Llandrindod Wells Mayor Councillor Steve Deeks-D’Silva said; “I live adjacent to the next phase of the scheme, it passes my door, and we have not heard a word from the design team. However, the railway team is going to do some vegetation work and we have had lots of letters saying there may be some noise etc from them. This is outrageous.”

Councillor Jamie Jones said: “It’s no wonder that he does not want to come and see what a mess has been created because then he would have to see it and have to listen to local people’s views. 

“They don’t want to admit when something is wrong. He is just going to create barriers between him and the problem. It is rather disappointing.”

Active Travel Assistant Travel Officer David Allday said the scheme meets all required standards and the path fully complies with the Active Travel Design Guide.

He said there’s been an increase of just under 20 percent of pedestrian and cycle journeys compared to the baseline data and average traffic speeds in the area are 20mph whereas in other places its over 20mp.

But Councillor Steve Sims said the only time they could have got baseline data was during Covid because the original scheme was talked about just before Covid and it was worked on during Covid.

Cllr Owen expressed concern about the lack of Active Travel provision from Llandrindod Wells to Crossgates.