A row has broken out over who should foot the £11m bill to improve flood defences at Aberystwyth. Plans for the Victorian promenade include an extra defence wall to protect properties. The seafront was devastated by a storm in January 2014 and the sea wall is viewed as “old, tired and brittle”. The Welsh Government is meeting 75% of the bill and is not proposing to increase that, but Ceredigion council’s leader wants the whole cost paid. “We’ve been squeezed for cash over the past six or seven years and it’s not easy to find that funding these days,” said leader Ellen ap Gwynn. “I think it’s unfair that coastal counties have got to put their hands in their pockets for this sort of work whereas the coastline is a national asset.”

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