RESIDENTS fear their village could be cut off after the second devastating landslide on the same stretch of road in the space of just 18 months.
Tonnes of earth and debris collapsed on to the B4286 Cwmavon Road at Pantdu on New Year's Eve — just a few hundred yards from where a similar landslip caused havoc in October, 2008.
The road was closed in both directions and will remain shut until at least Monday so engineers can assess its stability.
But with the other main route connecting Cwmavon with Port Talbot, the A4107 Afan Valley Road, reduced to a single-lane because of safety concerns, villagers say they will face a huge round trip if the situation gets any worse.
"There must be tonnes of earth and debris there. It has completely blocked the left side of the road as you drive towards Cwmavon.
"At the moment anyone wanting to get in or out of Cwmavon has to use the top road, but even that is down to one lane with traffic lights so there are hold-ups."
It is fairly quiet at the moment because of the new year celebrations but once the traffic picks up again there will be chaos.
People had frequently voiced concern about the roads situation during Crac meetings.
Lights went up on the A4107 at Lletti Harri, in November, 2008, amid fears it was at serious risk of total failure. (The lights have been there so long now that a generator is no longer used. The lights are connected to the main electricity supply. Scandalous - Kevin )
Neath Port Talbot Council has come up with a repair project but this is not programmed to start until at least this April because of the nearly-£1 million price tag.
But the authority did carry out stabilisation work on Cwmavon Road following the first landslide in Pantdu.
That was completed in August last year, ending months of misery for motorists.
2 comments:
Hello Councillor Edwards the B4286 Cwmavon Road has closed for the second time now and I wonder after two weeks work on the first landslip they came up with a big tree trunk laying across the bottom of the bank, I’m no engineer but I have been a labourer for a builder for 15 years now and I think that a tree trunk will not hold a high bank of soil. Now this has happened again perhaps we need a bigger tree trunk, sorry for the silly remark but this council is not spending the money where needed look at the stupid sunnycroft roundabout at Baglan there must be thousands of pounds spent there recently on a new roundabout and traffic lights installed. Why? There is very little traffic outside rush hour and I have to wait at a red light and there is no-one coming around the roundabout, it makes me mad when the people of Velindre and Cwmafan lives are put at risk with that amount of earth falling, possibly land on someone/property and life is more important than traffic lights on a roundabout. Please common sense come to light there again look at Aberafan beach sorry I have had enough of this labour council and their priorities in the borough i.e. closing schools “enough is enough"
stephen,Cwmafan
People should realise that these problems can only increase due to the continuous building on green soak away sites. This destruction cannot be stopped, until this third World invasion of our Country is both stopped and reversed.
Vote BNP or prepare for increased suffering.
The choice is simple and the choice is yours.
Your children will probably not have this choice.
JMHO.
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