A Pembrokeshire environmental group is petitioning for all construction work on the Llanddewi Velfrey bypass to be immediately stopped.

Pembrokeshire Friends of the Earth (FOE) says that the £60 million bypass will cause an estimated 18,300 tonnes of CO2 emissions during the construction phase and will impact our climate for the next 100 years.

The group has been objecting to the A40 by-pass from Llanddewi Velfrey to Redstone Cross for more than two years.

As well as the carbon emissions the group says that the new road scheme will cause 'a significant loss and fragmentation of ancient woodland'.

It says it will also have a negative impact on a number of farms in the area. There is also concern regarding its impact on a number of nationally and internationally important species including bats and otters.

The group says that all construction on the bypass should be halted until Welsh Government's Roads Review Panel (RRP) completes its consideration of this scheme.

The bypass was initially supposed to be built in 2018 but progress was halted when contractor, Carilllion, went bankrupt.

It was initially thought that work on the bypass would not go ahead until the RRP was completed, leading local member of parliament, Simon Hart, to say the bypass had been 'snatched away from residents'.

"This road is vital for the safety of the village," he said. "We have been campaigning for it for more than a decade."

However, it emerged that the bypass would go ahead as there were already 'diggers in the ground'.

A FOE spokesperson said: "We are dismayed to see that work on the by-pass has commenced. There is a very real possibility that the review will find that this scheme should not proceed in its current form and so it is imperative that work is halted now to prevent unnecessary damage and CO2 emissions.

"The safety of other road users has been cited as a major advantage of the scheme. However, we would argue that there are a number of ways to achieve this without building a completely new three lane road from Gwyndy to beyond Redstone Cross. The Welsh Government's design would see 2 lanes of tarmac being replaced by five or six."

The group said that the money used to build the bypass should be used to improve public transport and local connectivity and create safe routes for cycles and pedestrians, including safe crossings at Llanddewi Velfrey and Redstone Cross and the widening of pavements and traffic calming measures.

"Pembrokeshire Friends of the Earth welcome the review of all road schemes by Welsh Government's Roads Review Panel (RRP)," said the spokesperson.

"However this review will not be effective if work on schemes go ahead while the review is being undertaken.

"We call for all construction work on the bypass from Llanddewi Velfrey to Redstone Cross to be halted immediately while the RRP completes its consideration of this scheme."

A Welsh Government spokesperson said:

“We understand the interest in this project. It is right for the scope of the review to be as broad as possible. Beyond that we cannot predetermine the views of the panel.”