Residents living on a road covered in potholes are still waiting for it to be adopted and repaired three months after Torfaen Council announced they had been given £194,000 to do the work.
An ‘unadopted’ road doesn’t come under the ownership of Torfaen Council so they don’t have any responsibility for repairs or maintenance. Those costs fall to the residents of the street.
After a long-running campaign residents living on Brook Street in Pontrhydyrun were told in July the road would be adopted and repaired thanks to a £194,000 grant from the Welsh Government. One resident described the road as “diabolical”
Andrew Bowen has lived on the street since 2018. He said: “We have hadn’t had any letters from the council since the announcement. A neighbour who has pestered the council for years about the potholes hasn’t heard a thing. About a month ago a couple of engineers came and took some levels with a theodolite but that’s been it. Since July we have had to fork out of our own pocket and filled the holes in ourselves twice. You could hear the bottom of cars dragging across the road. If we had some communication we would know what they are doing, but we haven’t had anything.”
Cwmbran Life asked Torfaen Council when the work would start and finish. A council spokesperson said: “The proposal to carry out works in Brook Street is currently in the design process. We are unable to give a commencement date, but works will be complete by the end of March 2022.”
The money was given to the council as part of a pilot scheme to improve unadopted roads. Only one street per local authority in Wales could be put forward.
Once Brook Street is repaired it will be maintained by Torfaen Council.