£56 million Newtown bypass 'must provide benefits'

Work is due to start on the bypass this summer with a further £20 million is being invested in Newtown over the next year through private and public developments.

But Doug Hughes, who runs Newtown and Welshpool-based Hughes Architects, says the community must work together to benefit from the investment.

Speaking at the Wales Rural Regeneration Conference held near Newtown, Mr Hughes, who is also chair of the Welsh Government and Powys County Council-backed Severn Valley Effect project, said more needed to be done to ensure the benefits of the bypass and commercial investments are maximised for all.

He said: "We are now on the cusp of what could be the largest investment in the area for a generation, with a £58 million bypass along the A483 at Newtown, £20million of commercial development in Newtown and the investment in a fibre-optic broadband network providing high speed broadband access throughout the area.

"But while a great deal has been done to secure these investments, there is still a need for a more cohesive approach from each and every community, the public and private sector to take advantage of this.

"The bypass is not just about solving the area's traffic problems, specifically in Newtown. It's about attracting new commercial and industrial investment to the area and creating greater social and employment opportunities.

"If we're not prepared for when the road opens in 2017 then we're going to suffer. We should not see the road as the answer to a congestion problem in the area, it is an enabler to new opportunities. But we have to begin marketing the area, our towns, communities and the opportunities that this new bypass will create.

"If we're not telling the outside world about the area then the road will just be what it's called, a bypass, instead of attracting new opportunities into the area, rather than through it."

The £20 million investments in the town include a multi-million pound investment in Newtown's Market Hall, the creation of the new Hope Church with conference facilities, a new Welsh-medium primary school and a new social housing development.