Improvements to coastal path set to go ahead
LONG overdue improvements to a section of the Carmarthenshire Millennium Coastal Path are set to go ahead it has been announced.
Llanelli MS Lee Waters has confirmed the work on the path in the Bynea area of Llanelli.
A series of complications meant that an eroded section of the path, known locally as the ‘broken link’ running alongside the touring and camping site The Gateway Resort, missed out on being upgraded in 2022.
At that time, the project lost its allocated Active Travel Funding when Carmarthenshire Council ran into a series of issues, including those associated with the on-going Covid-19 pandemic and environmental considerations.
Consequently, it was not possible to deliver the improvements within the required timescale.
However, when the project was not included in the 2022/23 active travel application, Bynea’s county councillor Cllr Deryk Cundy and Ken Strelley, owner of The Gateway Resort, asked for support from their Senedd Member Lee Waters.
Mr. Waters said: “I was aware of concerns relating to this section of path as I had been contacted by a number of my constituents over the years about it.
“I was keen to make sure that the scheme did go ahead and asked the Minister for Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, to look at what could be done to progress it.
“I am pleased to confirm that the minister has written to me to say that she expects it to be completed by March 2023.”
Mr Strelley of The Gateway Resort said: “Local people and tourists will benefit greatly from this section of the Sustrans cycle path being brought inland, out of the floodplain.
“This has only been made possible by National Resources Wales (NRW), the local planning authority and Lee Waters MS working closely together to deliver this project.
“Obviously, this will offer great benefits to The Gateway Resort and our visitors to the area, as well as Bynea Cycling Club, as the pathway has been beaten by the high spring tides for many years.”
Cllr Cundy said: “After much negotiating and with the hard work of county council officers, planning, the NRW and the generosity of the local landowner Ken Strelley, I was pleased that a solution had been found to save and upgrade the path.
“Having lost the original funding, it is great to see this project back on track preventing a much needed asset from being lost.” The eroded path will be realigned via a small path diversion onto the property of Gateway Resort.
“This will be funded through the Welsh Government’s Designated Landscapes and Countryside Access Branch from its budget for Wales Coastal Path projects.