The planned closure of the A465 in late August has been cancelled following strong protests from Monmouthshire cabinet member Councillor Jane Pratt.

Cllr Pratt has successfully lobbied Welsh Government and Costain this week over the planned closure due to take place from August 20 to August 23.

This closure would have been on the same weekend as the Greenman Festival at Glanusk, which is sold out with record crowds of 20,000 plus expected .

If the closure had gone ahead it would have been catastrophic and caused a total gridlock said Cllr Pratt.

And she was pleased that Welsh government listened to her and yesterday, on Wednesday July 21, it cancelled the late August closure.

She also added: ’‘It is quite ridiculous that this was ever considered by Welsh governmen.’t’

However this weekend’s closure is still going ahead.

Councillor Pratt has been working with other elected representatives, Peter Fox MS and Natasha Asghar MS to get this weekend’s closure from Friday July 23rd at 8.30pm till July 26 at 6am cancelled too but the Labour Minister has not listened and at this peak holiday weekend, for most the second one of the school holidays, the road will be closed between Gilwern to Brynmawr.

Cllr Pratt said this is going to cause total mayhem both for visitors to Wales trying to get to their holiday destination or leaving it, as well as local residents and businesses.

This is in addition to the heavy rainfall that is expected this weekend.

Councillor Pratt said: ‘’It is totally wrong to go ahead with this closure at the height of the Summer season and shows a complete disregard for local businesses and residents and will also cause misery for visitors to Wales.

’’It is unacceptable that Welsh government have not made the common sense decision to postpone what they describe as ‘safety checks’ until after the holiday period.’’