£480,000 project to link neighbouring villages with new active travel route

Twm Owen, Local Democracy Reporter

Parcels of land along a busy road will be purchased by a council to create a walking and cycling path.

The path will give residents of two villages just a mile apart the first dedicated safe, direct route, other than by road, between them.

Undy and Rogiet, in south Monmouthshire, are just one mile apart but residents have to rely on being able to make the journey along the B4245 by car to travel independently even though the distance can be covered in less than 10 minutes by bicycle or half and hour on a mobility scooter.

A report for Monmouthshire County Council, which will purchase parcels of land alongside the B4245 for what it calls an active travel route, said despite the 10,000 vehicles a day that travel along the road some people cycle along it or walk on the edge of the verge.

The council is purchasing the land so it can construct the route between Undy and Rogiet, with £480,000 to do so provided by the Cardiff Capital Region.

The Church Road, Undy to Station Road, Rogiet section of the scheme will be completed this year, using the available funding, while further phases still neeed to be designed and permissions finalised and purchasing the land will allow the council to bid for further funding.

The council’s Labour/Green Party cabinet has agreed to purchase the parcels of land required and to delegate powers to its chief officer for infrastructure to do so, in consultation with the cabinet member.

The council needs to negotiate with private landowners over five plots of land while one plot is owned by the Welsh Government which brought it to facilitate the shelved M4 relief road.

Councillor Sara Burch, the Labour cabinet member responsible, said the council has a duty under Active Travel Wales Act to develop routes for walking and cycling .

Safe

She said: “There is an aspiration it should be a safe and convenient to walk and cycle from the communities of Undy, Rogiet and Magor and onto Portskewett, a so called Severn spinal route which can also be used by powered wheelchairs and mobility scooters to ensure everyone can get from A to B.”

Cllr Burch also told the cabinet a consultation will be held this year on proposals to make Undy more pedestrian friendly while construction of the path through Caldicot Country Park, which joins with the path connecting the town with Portskewett, is currently taking place.