Welshpool pavement widening confirmed for Phase Two!

The hugely criticised Welshpool pavement widening programme on Severn Street that has already cost nearly £400,000 is to be extended all the way to the town centre, it has been confirmed by the Welsh Government.

The project, which has been slammed as a “waste of money” by many of our readers, will be extended after being included in a new £4.6m plan to “improve public transport and support economic growth in mid Wales”.

Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport, Ken Skates, announced the news this morning that projects would include ‘the second phase of a shared use path along Severn Road path to Welshpool town centre’.

The initial phase took nearly six months to complete and following our story revealing its cost last month, readers reacted with anger, stating that the money would have been better spent elsewhere.

Local authorities were invited to submit proposals to the Welsh Government for local transport improvements in their areas that will help to deliver the priorities and ambitions of Wales’ Transport Strategy - Llwybr Newydd.

These include:   

• Addressing disruptions to the highway network caused by severe weather.   
• Improving road safety   
• Delivering walking and cycling routes   
• Improving bus journey times and waiting facilities  
• Delivering publicly available EV charging infrastructure 

The substantial support, which is designed to help local councils to improve transport in their area, includes funding for Active Travel and Safe Routes, Road Safety, EV charging facilities, road resilience, local transport and unadopted roads.

Mr Skates said: “These grants are a substantial investment to support sustainable local economic growth, enhance public transport facilities and create and improve routes that will enable and encourage more people in Wales to walk, wheel and cycle.  

“The projects are prime examples of the practical solutions we have asked local authorities to design in order to make it easier for residents to connect with their places of employment and businesses, and to do so more sustainably.”  

This funding also builds on allocations which have been made to different phases of some projects in previous years.