Ceredigion officials met with local councillors to discuss ‘vague’ car ban plans for Aberystwyth three weeks ago, it has been revealed.
On Monday, Ceredigion council’s implementation of a new ’safe zone pedestrian’ area in Aberystwyth town centre was met with criticism for a lack of consultation with residents and businesses.
Both Advancing Aberystwyth and Aberystwyth Town Council have revealed they were also left in the dark over the plans until the afternoon of Friday, 11 July, when Ceredigion council released a press release announcing the plans that were to come into force the following Monday.
During a meeting with Aberystwyth Town Council and Advancing Aberystwyth three weeks ago, Ceredigion County Council produced “vague” potential ideas for plans to pedestrianise the town centre. Now Advancing Aberystwyth have revealed they offered, twice during the meeting and via email in the ensuing weeks, to conduct consultations with the community on behalf of the council.
A spokesperson for Advancing Aberystwyth said: “I suggested, because it was going to be quite controversial, that we would do a survey. But I would need details of what their plans were going to be. They didn’t acknowledge it – they had the offer and chose not to do anything with it.”
Advancing Aberystwyth is intending to consult with the community to gauge public opinion in the coming weeks. The spokesperson added: “Our plan is to do our consultation with businesses. But we’re going to give the system a week to see what happens. Whether the council engages with that, that’s up to them. Either way the results will be fed back to the council.”
In a full council meeting on 29 June, Aberystwyth Town Council resolved to support the plans, but only with further consideration of accessibility for those with mobility issues.
As the town council only found out about the confirmed plans on 11 July, Aberystwyth mayor Charlie Kingsbury told the Cambrian News there was little the council could do in the form of consultation.
“Given the limited amount of time available between when we had confirmation of the plans and its implementation, there was very little the town council could do to formally consult, though I know councillors did so with residents on an informal basis,” Cllr Kingsbury said. Aberystwyth Town Council unanimously voted to support the principle of creating safe zones in the town, but that more would have to be done by Ceredigion County Council to ensure that the salient concerns of residents regarding accessibility were taken into account. It is vital that residents of Aberystwyth, Penparcau and the surrounding area who have reduced mobility are not unduly disadvantaged by its implementation.”
In response, a spokesperson for Ceredigion County Council said: “Ceredigion County Council wants to create inviting towns for people to shop, relax and be safe. With the slow easing of the lockdown in the county and with social distancing requirements still being important, it is necessary to make adjustments to the towns for public health reasons. These arrangements have been put in place quickly so that they can be reviewed continually during this week and in advance of the large influx of visitors over the school summer holidays, when the population of Ceredigion swells to over double its normal size and will congregate in our towns. Ceredigion has maintained low levels of the coronavirus over recent months and the intention with creating the Safe Zones is to put measures in place to continue to protect our residents as well as visitors. The council shared the information with the public as soon as possible, with the first press release issued on 03 July and further information followed.”
Article originally appeared on Cambrian news
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