Welsh Liberal Democrat Councillors on Powys County Council are calling on the Council’s ruling Independent/Conservative Cabinet to apply for funding from the Emergency Financial Assistance Scheme (EFAS - formerly known as the Belwin Scheme) to help fund the massive job underway to clear all the huge snow drifts still blocking many of Powys’s minor roads.

Commenting on the situation, Cllr Gibson-Watt said, “Powys County Council staff, councillors, contractors and volunteers have been working round the clock to reach isolated communities and vulnerable people trapped behind the huge snow drifts that have filled in many roads.

"Some of the efforts made have verged on the heroic. However, five days on one major trunk road and hundreds of minor roads and lanes are still impassable. The cost to the council of clearing these roads is going to be huge.”

“We have seen the EFAS scheme used to deal with flooding events and other emergencies in the past. For large rural counties like Powys last week’s snow and high winds have resulted in unprecedented drifts across our vast road network. The need to clear that network is urgent and extra resources are going to be needed to achieve that.”

Cllr Gibson-Watt is writing to council leader, Cllr Rosemarie Harris, to ask her to consider his members’ proposal as a matter of urgency.