Controversial road closure plan faces backlash as councillors urge rethink

Twm Owen, Local Democracy Reporter

A controversial closure of a shortcut for drivers that prompted hundreds of objections shouldn’t be made permanent, a council committee has said.

Instead Monmouthshire councillors said other options, and alternatives, to improving pedestrian safety on the route into a town centre should be looked at following an 18 month experimental traffic order that prevented vehicles, other than those needing access, driving along the narrowest part of the street.

Councillors were told there had been 227 objections received during the council’s consultation and only 18 comments in support of making the order permanent. There had also been 334 signatures on two petitions opposed to the restriction which results in drivers having to make a detour of just over a quarter of a mile to reach a main road.

The experimental, or temporary, order was put in place on the narrow stretch of Goldwire Lane in Monmouth in October 2024. Drivers have instead had to use Somerset Road and Wonastow Road to reach Drybridge Street, as the narrow part of Goldwire Lane, from Abbeyfiled to the Green Dragon pub, has been closed other than for access

The Thursday, March 19 scrutiny committee spent more than 90 minutes debating whether or not it should recommend the council cabinet should make the order permanent.

Debrah Hill-Howells, the council’s transport director, said every point made during the consultation had been answered by officers and said: “We do not consider a 0.3 mile detour is too great a burden for car drivers to travel to access a main road they were going to access anyway.”

Councillor Catrin Maby, the cabinet member responsible and Labour member for the town’s Drybridge ward, said elderly residents feared walking, or using mobility scooters, on the narrow one-way part of the lane as there is little room between them and passing vehicles.

She also said Goldwire Lane connects to a large residential area and is well used by school children and the restriction had three road safety benefits.

She said it protects pedestrians or those on scooters or bikes, those crossing at its junction with Drybridge Street and reduces the number of vehicles emerging from the lane she described as “very close to a roundabout and with poor visibility.”

Cllr Maby said most of the comments received during the consultation were concerns drivers wouldn’t be able to use the lane if the Somerset Road route is blocked by flooding, but said the council has confirmed the restriction wouldn’t apply in such emergencies.

Most of the other comments, said Cllr Maby, were calls for the lane to be made a shared space between pedestrians and vehicles but she, and the council’s highways officer, said it is too narrow for adjustments such as bollards.

Conservative Martin Newell, whose Town ward includes Goldwire Lane, said along with residents’ objections Monmouth Town Council opposed making the order permanent.

He suggested further options, including what he called a “safer”, alternative route alongside the Riverside Hotel and which comes out on Cinderhill Street, should be considered before making the order permanent. Cllr Maby said that was considered and the path is privately owned.

Cllr Newell said: “There has to be a way we can work through things and keep the road open and make sure it safe for everyone.”

The committee also heard a video submitted by Justine Johnson who described herself as a campaigner against the restriction and had organised the petitions signed by 334 people.

She said: “Goldwire Lane is a main road out and has been a main road for 300 years and don’t pedestrians also have to take some care?”

The committee was tied with four votes in favour of recommending the order be made permanent and four against doing so and considering other options.

The recommendation against making the order will be put forward to the council’s Labour and Green Party cabinet, which must take the decision, on the casting vote of the scrutiny committee chair, Conservative member for Osbaston Jane Lucas.