This petition was submitted by The Friends of Cwmcarn Forest Drive having collected 1450 signatures - 353 on paper and 1097 on-line.

Petition text:

We call upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to provide the necessary means to allow Natural Resources Wales to fully re-open the Cwmcarn Forest Drive to private cars at Easter 2018.

Additional information:

In the summer of 2014 Natural Resources Wales stated that the Cwmcarn Forest Drive, also known as the Scenic Drive, would be closed for a minimum of two years from November 2014 and that this was necessary because of the infection of the Japanese larch in the Cwmcarn valley and surrounding hillsides. The removal of the larch is now almost complete and NRW are beginning to reinstate the cycle tracks and footpaths, however there does not appear to be a plan to reinstate the scenic drive, even though the vast majority of the route is undamaged. To single out private car users of the drive is unfair and unnecessary when other users will face only temporary disruption. Many of those who access the Drive via private car do so because they have limited mobility, some are families with small children, many are elderly, disabled or from our ethnic minority and immigrant communities. Failing to provide a facility for these people is discriminatory especially when there are plans, and funds available, to provide further facilities for other users. The lack of a fully accessible scenic drive deprives those people who are our most culturally and materially deprived of their main facility for health and well-being. Our organisation, the Friends of Cwmcarn Forest Drive wants equality of access for all users of the scenic drive and calls for the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales to provide the means to make this possible.

A woodland road

Status

This petition was considered completed by the Petitions Committee at its meeting on 02/04/2019.

The Committee considered further correspondence from Natural Resources Wales and the petitioners and agreed to close the petition in light of NRW’s intention to reopen the Forest Drive in spring 2020.

Full details of the consideration of this petitions by the committee and related documents can be seen on the Meetings tab above.

It was first considered by the Petitions Committee on 13/06/2017.

Assembly Constituency and Region.

·         Islwyn

·         South Wales East

Further information

• Learn more about the Assembly’s petitions process
• Sign an e-petition
• How the petitions system works