Resurfacing works delayed in Welsh county hit by Christmas flooding

Twm Owen, Local democracy reporter

A plan to complete resurfacing works to a country road has been delayed by flooding which hit before Christmas.

Monmouthshire County Council had intended resurfacing the remaining section of Crick Road in its highway programme for this year.

But the councillor responsible said that hadn’t taken place because of the November flooding.

Crick Road runs from the A48 to Portskewett and the village’s county councillor, Lisa Dymock, asked at the authority’s March meeting for an update on on the timetable for resurfacing the remaining section of Crick Road to the B4245.

But Cllr Catrin Maby, the Labour cabinet member responsible for highways, said: “The condition of this section of Crick Road is currently being reinspected as it was agreed it would be included in the small schemes programme.

“While the vast majority of this year’s programme has been delivered I’m afraid the storms over the winter did actually shift things and they pulled resources out into other areas, as well as the challenges caused by flooding in the north of the county.

“I’m sorry I can’t give you a precise timescale but I accept we were hoping to get it done this year and will keep in touch about it.”

Conservative Cllr Dymock said she would continue to “lobby” the cabinet member as she said it “wasn’t acceptable” to delay the work.

Cllr Louise Brown, the member for the neighbouring Shirenewton ward, asked when the remainder of the A48 from the Mathern junction to the High Beech roundabout, on the outskirts of Chepstow, would be resurfaced.

Cllr Brown said the section from the Parkwall roundabout to the Mathern junction had been resurfaced, and its double white central hazard lines repainted, “a few years ago”.

But Cllr Maby told her the section had recently been assessed as part of the county wide road condition survey and wasn’t identified as a priority for resufracing in the coming year.

The Drybridge member said the road is likely to be on the schedule in subsequent years but couldn’t give a precise date even with the £3.6m the council has made available for pothole repairs through to 2029.

Cllr Maby said the council road network covers 1,600 killometres, and has an identified a maintenance backlog of £80m, while she said neighbouring Powys has 5,000km and a £180m backlog.

Conservative Cllr Brown said the A48 is a “busy road with up to 100,000 vehicles a week” and said it should be a priority and said she was also concerned there is a consultation on adding a puffin crossing, and questioned putting a crossing in place while the road surface is poor.

Cllr Maby also said, in response to Cllr Dymock whose question followed Cllr Brown’s, she appreciated “you want to be seen by your residents to be asking questions but you can get this information from the operations manager.”