Residents living on an unadopted ‘diabolical’ road in Cwmbran are still waiting for Torfaen Council to spend a £194,000 Welsh Government grant to carry out repairs.
Brook Street in Pontrhydyrun is covered in potholes but is unadopted which means the council is not responsible for it. The council was given cash last July to bring the road up to a standard where they would take over its ownership (adopt) and become responsible for repairs.
Scroll down this story to watch a video of what Brook Street looks like in heavy rain.
But seven months later the work has not been done and residents say they have still not had any communications from the council about the work. In October 2021 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.”
Andrew Bowen has lived on Brook Street since 2018 and described the condition of the road as ‘absolutely diabolical’. He said that since he read the story in the media about the grant being awarded he had not received ‘one single letter’ about the work or what was happening.
This week the council confirmed that the work would not be done before the end of March and told Cwmbran Life the £194,000 ‘would be carried forward until the first quarter on 2022/23.’ A spokesperson said work has not been done because of a ‘lack of resource in the engineering team and the inability to recruit’.
Residents will be given information once a contractor has been appointed and timescales are agreed.
Rain-filled potholes on Brook Street
This video was filmed in October 2021 by Brook Street resident Andrew Bowen