Llanrhystud residents say they are ‘furious’ after Ceredigion County Council spent £90k and two years only to fail to obtain funding for an urgently needed school path.

The south side of the village has virtually no pavement with parents describing the route to Ysgol Myfenydd as being like playing ‘leapfrog’ between parked cars having ‘near misses’ daily whilst avoiding oncoming HGVs and tractors using the B4337.

Lloyd Osborne, father of two who attend the school, said: “We walk every day, it’s hairy.

“You can’t walk on the inside of the parked cars so you have to step into the road.

A group of school children playing 'leapfrog' with oncoming traffic and lorries
A group of school children playing 'leapfrog' with oncoming traffic and lorries (Llanrhystud Road Safety Group)

“My boys are short so can’t see cars coming and they don’t like being manhandled by us parents to keep them from getting squished.

“They’re nearly clipped by cars daily.

“It’s a frightening experience to go through twice a day.”

Many drive the hundreds of metres due to safety fears; however, with no car park in the village, cars need to park on the road and no space remains to build a pavement.

So after many years of lobbying, the Llanrhystud community created their own solution.

Resident Avril Jones offered to sell a part of her garden to create a through-way around the back of the terraced housings south of the B-road, giving the crucial space needed for a path that would keep school children and residents safe whilst out walking.

However Ceredigion County Council’s application to the Welsh Government was rejected in April, with residents claiming the council is to blame for writing an application that ‘didn’t meet the aims of the grant’, or the community.

Llanrhystud Road Safety Group (RSG) wrote: “It’s galling that the Ceredigion said their application was ‘influenced by the outcomes of public engagement’.

A resident attempting to walk on the small stretch of pavement against an oncoming tractor
A resident attempting to walk on the small stretch of pavement against an oncoming tractor (Llanrhystud Road Safety Group)

“The local community is furious that the council did not do as requested and focus on the safety requirement which was a priority for the community and the grant fund they applied to.

“The die was set when Ceredigion without consultation put a stop to an almost oven-ready scheme in favour of something it could not handle and wasted two years and £90k hard-earned Welsh cash with nothing to show for it and all hazards remaining.”

It was late 2021 when the community created the RSG and Avril first offered her land.

Multiple retired engineers wrote a £40k application for Welsh Government funding to build the 180m footpath.

They gained community backing and crucially, all landowners' permission to give up slices of their garden to connect the footpath.

Sadly Llanrhystud’s community council application was batted away by Government, needing to come from the county council instead.

In red- the existing B-road with virtually no pavement and on-street parked cars. Below in blue and grey, the proposed path through the terraced gardens
In red- the existing B-road with virtually no pavement and on-street parked cars. Below in blue and grey, the proposed path through the terraced gardens (Llanrhystud Road Safety Group/ Atkins)

Ceredigion Council ‘reluctantly’ took up the mantel according to the RSG, using £40k and then a further £50k on a feasibility study (the extra money needed due to Ceredigion Council resourcing issues meaning they couldn’t do it themselves).

Sadly, in October 2023 whilst Ceredigion was still consulting, Mrs Jones passed away, leaving no mention of the slice of garden she was to give in her will.

This January Ceredigion applied to the Safe Routes in Communities fund for £320k to create a host of changes to the town to encourage ‘active travel’ like walking and cycling, stating the one path the community asked for would be difficult to progress without landowner consent.

This application was rejected by Welsh Government as the fund focused on community road safety, not active travel.

So Llanrhystud is now worse off than when they started.

County Cllr Gwyn Wigley Evans and governor at the school said: “The reaction was shock, horror.

“There is now no immediate way forward and no funding to do anything.

“The community has been left high and dry.

“Children are still going to school on a dangerous road.

“The community has been left stranded.”

Tudor Jones (left) and Dan Gregory (right) from the Road Safety Group, who were instrumental in creating the initial £40k application. Middle- Cllr Gwyn Wigley Evans
Tudor Jones (left) and Dan Gregory (right) from the Road Safety Group, who were instrumental in creating the initial £40k application. Middle- Cllr Gwyn Wigley Evans (Cambrian News)

Tudor Jones, RSG member born and raised in Llanrhystud who voiced the safety issue originally in the 1980s, said: “We’re extremely frustrated.

“The RSG has devoted a lot of time and ploughed a lot of knowledge into this work.

“The consultation was overwhelmingly in favour of the footpath above all else.

“Despite that Ceredigion Council went ahead with an application for ‘active travel routes’ that wouldn’t improve school access safety.

“The consultants, Atkins, also recommended our safe route being progressed as priority before any other.

“So why did Ceredigion Council disregard everyone’s comments? It’s something we have great difficulty understanding.”

He added that Avril regretted not seeing the path installed when he visited her before she passed: “We were to call it ‘Avril’s Way’- she contributed a lot. We had no options before she offered her land.”

The road has recently been changed to 20mph with the law change in September 2023
The road has recently been changed to 20mph with the law change in September 2023 (Llanrhystud Road Safety Group)

Ceredigion County Council said:  The information put forward [by the RSG] enabled Ceredigion County Council to prepare two successful grant applications for funding in 2022/23 and 2023/24 to enable the suggestions made by the Road Safety Group to be developed further by consultancy work commissioned by the County Council including community engagement in September 2023 and a proposed phased construction programme subject to the availability of land and funding.

“Ceredigion County Council has a long history of developing and delivering schemes funded through the Welsh Government’s Active Travel and Safe Routes in Communities grants, having been awarded £6.7 million for such schemes since 2019/20, and will continue to look to work alongside stakeholder groups in delivering compliant projects subject to Welsh Government funding through what is a competitive application process.

“In progressing the route preferred by the local community, the availability of land and sufficient funding to acquire the land remain obstacles to be overcome.

“Despite the application that was unsuccessful on this occasion, the County Council will continue a positive dialogue with representatives of the local community in Llanrhystud and Welsh Government officials so as to seek to provide an application for the 2025/26 Financial Year that is more capable of meeting the grant funding requirements.”