Plans for the ‘much awaited’ Cynon Gateway road are said to be progressing

Anthony Lewis – Local democracy reporter

Plans for the “much-awaited” Cynon Gateway road are said to be progressing.

At a full council meeting on Wednesday (January 15) Councillor Sharon Rees who represents Aberdare West and Llwydcoed asked the leader to provide an update on whether any progress is being made with the Welsh Government on taking the major scheme forward.

Councillor Andrew Morgan, leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) Council, said the current and then transport minister Ken Skates had been supportive of the project around the time of the dualling public inquiry and that the planning inspector had been clear that a road link was required for the area in the upper Cynon or the top of the Cynon would be severed in effect from the A465 and thousands of cars forced to go through Llwydcoed.

Cllr Morgan said the minister is broadly supportive of the scheme and that a bid has been submitted for funding for the coming year with the next stage of the works requiring around £450,000 from Welsh Government ,with a smaller match funding from the council. The leader said he is hopeful of a positive outcome based on the conversations they’ve had previously.

Contracters

The council has a project team reviewing the previous designs because as part of the roads review they need to consider things like built-in carbon and the scheme’s impact on habitat.

Cllr Morgan said the council is looking at the best procurement route and in the next 12 months will have probably procured contractors.

He also said they’ll be looking to see if they need any further planning permissions, working through a further funding profile, and that they’ll need further committments from Welsh Government around funding.

But he said: “Certainly from the conversations we’ve had, things are now progressing.”

Cllr Morgan said the scheme won’t tie up with the completion of the Heads of the Valleys road which was a key ask from the council a number of years ago so it does mean additional pressure and inconvenience in that location.

But he added the council has submitted a similar size bid for the Llanharan corridor improvements which is also looking positive and they hope to hear back from Welsh Government on both in the next six to eight weeks.