As a group we have major concerns about the cycle path / superhighway that has been proposed to run through Nant Fawr. This would likely be four metres wide, lit and tarmacked. Though we understand and agree with a general push towards cycling and reduced car use, we have several concerns – including:
- This highway will destroy large sections of the woodland and damage the wildlife that lives here, harming the natural beauty, ecology and bio-diversity of the area and be damaging to the bat populations.
- The consultation does not contain enough specifics for the public to easily understand the plans. How many local people are even aware of these proposals?
- The path is popular with dog walkers and children, which leads to potential health and safety issues.
- There are plans to introduce a cycle path along Rhyd-y-Penau Road so that, in effect, we could have cycle paths running almost parallel for much of the route. Indeed Welsh Government’s own stated preference is for cycle routes to repurpose existing road space wherever possible and we suspect that most commuters would use the road as it would be quicker and remove concerns about walkers/dogs in leads etc, so we suspect that a cycle path in Nant Fawr would have little use. Frankly, this would be a poor use of public funds even aside from the ecological and safety issues.
- We are not convinced that an adequate assessment has been made of the likely usage versus the cost and damage of this proposal, especially given the proposed cycle lane on Rhyd-y-Penau (and other roads nearby) and a shift towards working from home.
The full response from Friends of Nant Fawr to the Active Travel Network Map consultation can be seen HERE (the pages are also posted below as image files). The docs version, which is easier to copy text from, is
Responses are welcomed by 31 October 2021 and if you would like to respond to the consultation yourself then please click HERE.
