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Response by the Cabinet Member: It should be noted that Powys alongside all authorities are currently in the on-boarding and validation process of the levelling up funding for round 3 following the announcement of the provisional awards last year. Outlined below are the key elements for the Levelling Up Bid to protect and enhance one of the key ancient highways in Wales. The Monks Trod within Powys is a byway open to all traffic maintainable at public expense. There are legal rights of access over it for walkers, cyclists, horse riders, carriage drivers and motor vehicles. There is a need to ensure that the byway has a surface that can sustain this use for the benefit of all users. This does not include heavier four wheeled vehicles as there is a long-standing prohibition on use of heavier four-wheeled vehicles on the byway and there is no proposal to change that. Our aim is to protect and enhance this important byway and it has been an ambition to achieve this over many years. As the Highway Authority, the Council has a legal duty to maintain the path surface, for the safety of users of the byway and we must address its degraded condition. We have a unique opportunity to do that through the UK Levelling Up Fund; this level of funding is not likely to be available again in the foreseeable future. Without the improvements proposed further damage will undoubtedly lead to greater degradation. 1. In view of the peat on this route, has a environmental impact been done of this work including the carbon release effect of the damage on the peat? The Monks Trod has become degraded to the extent that it is now very difficult for all users to pass. This has resulted in spreading erosion, where users have tried to circumnavigate the worst affected areas, which the proposal will address. The work proposed will be sympathetic to the rich habitat and allow recovery of the habitats surrounding the Monks Trod, by creating a well-defined and durable path surface; this will allow users to remain on a single convenient line. 2. Has a wider impact assessment been made in view of the wider environmental sensitivity along the route The surface proposed is compatible with protecting the features of the landscape. This will not be a sealed (tarmac) surface; it will simply be a drier causeway across the wettest areas, with stone where that is needed to create a more durable surface. A specification for work was prepared in 2018, which was informed by archaeological, hydrological and ecological investigations that were carried out by external specialists. This specification is the same for cycle / walking as it is for other users, and the works will have a long-term and positive outcome for all users. To ensure that the construction and its ongoing usage do not compromise the sensitive habitats crossed by the Monks Trod, a detailed Habitat Regulations Assessment was carried out in 2020 in relation to the work within Powys. It was concluded that through mitigation, impacts on the sensitive sites arising from construction and at the operational phase, once the new surface was in use could be avoided. It was also considered likely that there would be improvements in the baseline situation in relation to the habitats within Powys, once the new surface is in use. However, at that time, Ceredigion County Council was not able to put forward funding to provide a similar surface for the Monks Trod on its side of the county border. This would have resulted in users reaching the Claerwen river and then having to try to cross the most sensitive habitats in Ceredigion on a poorly defined and extremely boggy route, with consequent damage. The UK Levelling Up Funding will allow for this to be overcome. 3. In view of the widespread concerns about this work wouldn't it be more appropriate to use the 300k to fill in potholes on our roads? The Levelling Up Fund is a UK wide fund with strict criteria and as such, no, we do not have the flexibility to reallocate the funds to other work of our choice. However, we have provisionally been awarded funding for a package of resurfacing projects under a separate element of the transport bid, for specified sections of roads that contribute to active recreation opportunities for walking and cycling.
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