It will be soon be easier for people to travel on foot and by bike between Cefnllys and the centre of Llandrindod Wells, as the town is to benefit from a £14.5 million Welsh Government investment in active travel.

Active travel involves making journeys by physically active means.

The funding will improve and create active travel routes and facilities in Wales, as part of efforts to encourage more people to walk and cycle.

A total of £50,000 will go to the Cefnllys Road scheme, which will provide a direct active travel route from the Cefnllys area to Llandrindod Wells.

This will connect Cefnllys School, County Hall, health facilities, retail and residential areas. It also aims to alleviate traffic congestion on Cefnllys Road.

Brecon, Newtown and Aberystwyth are also amongst the towns to benefit from the active travel investment.

In total 66 active travel projects, as well as six multimodal schemes, will benefit.

The deputy minister had previously called on local authorities to be radical and ambitious in their work to improve active travel. He called for proposals to go further in creating infrastructure enabling people to choose walking and cycling as the most natural way to undertake shorter journeys.

The £14.5 million investment is part of the second round of capital funding from the Wales Infrastructure Investment Plan (WIIP) this year. It brings the total grant funding the Welsh Government has allocated to active travel schemes in 2019/20 to more than £40 million.

Lee Waters, Deputy Economy and Transport Minister, said: “We are facing a climate emergency, an obesity epidemic and an air quality crisis – and active travel can help us address all of these.

“Across Wales we need to do things differently. I have been clear that we need to think big, show ambition and be radical. These projects are a step in the right direction to achieve the change we need, and we will continue to make significant investment to make active travel the obvious choice for more journeys in Wales.”