Row of landslip-damaged homes still await demolition nearly a decade later

Lewis Smith, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans to demolish a row of condemned and abandoned houses set to go ahead almost nine years after a landslip which forced residents to evacuate them.

Based near the village of Ystalyfera on a quiet and narrowing road lie 10 houses that can be seen largely abandoned, crumbling and in varying states of disrepair.

Residents of the homes in Cyfyng Road were forced to pack up and leave suddenly in 2017 after they were thought to be at “imminent risk” after damage from a landslip event.

It was an event that led Neath Port Talbot Council to issue emergency prohibition orders on the hillside properties which prevented anyone from living in them for their own safety, in a move that left the once thriving street almost totally empty.

These orders were challenged by residents in 2018, following an independently commissioned survey which they felt showed they should not have been made to leave.

However, the decision was upheld after the Residential Property Tribunal Wales found that Neath Port Talbot Council had shown there was a “risk of serious harm to health and safety arising from structural collapse.”

Almost nine years years on, with most of the houses still standing, one of the remaining property owners says he is in a state of financial limbo over the plans to knock them down, while another family is also understood to still be living there.

Out of pocket

Property owner Gabe Thomas, who used to rent out one of the homes to tenants, fears he could be left thousands of pounds out of pocket if Neath Port Talbot Council doesn’t make an offer to purchase it – saying that while the council prohibition prevents anyone from living there, his insurance company believes there is no damage for him to claim for.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Gabe said that while he understood some of the properties on the row had already been taken into the ownership of the council, he had no further updates.

He said: “I bought the house as an investment property and then rented it out, and it used to be a nice little community for the people who lived here.

“It’s been hard because we’re at a stand-still with it and I don’t really know what’s going to happen.

“For me I just try to forget about it because it’s all rather upsetting, though my hope is that the council would make me a sensible offer.”

A Neath Port Talbot Council spokesperson confirmed that they had taken ownership of a number of the properties on the abandoned row with more expected to be close to completion – noting that the plan was still to demolish them.

Demolished

They said: “Over the six years since the Demolition Orders were issued for all properties in the terrace, the council has taken ownership of five properties and demolished three, with the transfer of a further three properties being close to completion.

“Once a block of adjoining properties in the terrace is in the council’s ownership, they will be demolished together as this is safer and less disruptive to the local community than demolishing properties one by one.

“In respect of the time taken for the matters to be resolved, it has been appropriate for the council to give time for the property owners to go through the full appeals process on any rejected insurance claims, with the council providing information to support owners in that process. Some owners were successful in the appeals process but unfortunately others were not.

“All property owners have been informed of the transfer of ownership process and those who require a solicitor have been advised to appoint one to represent them as part of the legal process. The council remains willing to engage with and support those affected to enable the process to progress.”