Campaigners who say they’ve endured deafening noise along a local road for the last decade have reignited their fight to force the government to resurface the A40.

Residents fed up with noise from the busy concrete trunk road between Raglan and Abergavenny have found new hope after a North Walian community with similar issues finally convinced the Welsh Government to repave a stretch of the A55 with noise-reducing tarmac.

Villagers from The Bryn said they’ve been fighting for similar changes for over a decade, and have met stiff opposition from Welsh Government in their bid to repave the concrete stretch of A40 with ‘whisper tarmac’.

The campaigners said they’ve renewed hopes, after the A55 area in North Wales received funds to resurface a length of road due to “excessive road noise being reflected off the mountains” near Abergwyngegyn, North Wales.

Andrew Sheasby, a local with ‘many years’ on the campaign, said the busy trunk road is ‘extremely noisy’ and is constantly ‘buzzing’ from his home on Bryncelyn Close, but hopes Welsh Government will follow the A55 example by allocating funds to fix the problem.

“I was initially optimistic about getting this sorted,” said Mr Sheasby, “but I am now utterly, utterly frustrated.

“It’s really as if the Welsh Government does not care. They shovel the platitudes and expect us to just get on with it.

“It’s a constant droning noise. In the summer, it’s worse. We can’t even sleep with the windows open in summer.

“Everything we have suggested, they have ignored. It’s like they don’t care at all.”

The fight has gathered the attentions of local politicians, with Councillor Sara Jones, who represents the Llanover ward, helped launch a petition to the Welsh Government last year, renewing her calls for action.

‘We have been campaigning for many years for the old concrete surface of the A40 between Abergavenny and Raglan to be resurfaced to reduce noise levels for local residents,” she said. “As one of the very few sections of noisy concrete trunk-road surface in Wales, it’s time for the Welsh Government to act on their earlier commitment that they would re-surface this road – as they have outlined that they would in their previous Ministerial correspondence to me.”

The concrete road, built in 1981, has ‘blighted’ the lives of The Bryn residents ever since, campaigners said, with the last ten years an ongoing campaign they said has ‘fallen on deaf ears’ with Welsh Government periodically shelving the issue due to funding problems.

Andrew Sheasby said the road is due for resurfacing once money is made available, and now hopes the A55 news could press the Welsh Government into action and resurface the three remaining ribbons of road affected by similar noise issues.

Another villager said the noise was incessant, and it was time for Welsh Government to finally take action.

“It’s been going on forever! We find it distressing, and there really is no let-up in the noise—day or night,” said Hazel Charles.

“I think the government should allocate some money and put down a whisper tarmac surface. I don’t think it has been resurfaced in 40 years. Back then, there was an eighth of the current traffic, too. ??“It’s a really harsh sound, which doesn’t stop. It’ll only get worse when the Heads of the Valleys road is finished.

“It’s about time the government spent some money and made peoples’ lives a little better.”

Local AM Nick Ramsay said the problem has been an enduring feature of his case work over the last decade.

 

“I’ve been pressing the Welsh Government on this for many years, dealing with a number of ministers, and I’m as frustrated as local residents over the lack of progress,” he said.

“I’m due to have another meeting with residents at The Bryn at the end of this week as the decision to resurface the A55 in North Wales but not the A40 in Monmouthshire has brought matters to a head once again.

“People living close to the A40 have waited long enough, and the time has come for action to reduce noise levels by resurfacing the concrete sections of the A40.”

David Davies, Conservative MP for Monmouth, said the Welsh Government had a chance to finally correct the long-battled issue.

“Last year, Ken Skates wrote to me saying that the A40 has been identified as a priority under the Noise Action Plan. It is therefore deeply disappointing that, for some reason or another, the Welsh Government has chosen to prioritise noise relief in North Wales.

 

“While I am happy that work is being done on the A55, we were promised in 2016 that work would be prioritised in Monmouthshire. The Welsh Labour Government has not kept its promise.”

A spokesperson for Monmouthshire County Council advised that the issue lay with Welsh Government.

A comment from Welsh Government has been requested. ?