A FORGOTTEN corner of Llanvihangel Crucorney has won recognition from the powers that be who have ‘excluded’ locals from village life.

Residents of the Crossways cul-de-sac have been fighting on two fronts to gain long-sought inclusion from highway chiefs and the Royal Mail.

Now they appear to have won one of their battles with council highways chiefs promising to move village name signs further along the fast and furious A465 to rope in the remote residents.

Campaigner Brian Stone is delighted with the shift in attitude which he reckons is nothing but ‘good news.’

He maintains the switch will alert motorists much sooner that they are entering a residential area where they need to slow down.

Now he is now setting his sights on finally persuading the Royal Mail to give the nine properties in the Crossways cul-de-sac their own postcode instead of sharing it with some 40 others - an anomaly which makes accurate reception of post and parcels something of a lottery.

He said of the highway win, “For the last 18 months I have been urging Monmouthshire County Council and the South Wales Trunk Road Agent to improve the safety signage along the section of the A465 where it passes through the Llanvihangel Crucorney area, particularly at the southern end near its junction with the our cul-de-sac.

“The Chronicle recently published an article confirming that SWTRA plan to review all safety signage along this section of trunk road in about six years’ time.

“Following your publication of that news I again sought support of my county councillor David Hughes-Jones, Nick Ramsay AM, and David Davies MP, to press MCC to take more immediate action.”

The retired civil engineer, whose work took him around the world, explained, “Consequently, after further consideration of my original proposal, MCC has now agreed that it would be beneficial for the two village signs for Llanvihangel Crucorney in the northbound direction to be relocated southwards near to the Crossways junction, without waiting for the SWTRA safety review.

“As a result MCC has put the proposal forward to receive funding in its next financial year’s programme. Thus motorists driving from Abergavenny along the A465 towards Llanvihangel Crucorney will understand the reason why they are entering a 50mph zone and may expect to encounter local traffic, pedestrians, and horse riders turning on and off this section of the trunk road.”

He reckoned it was ‘quite bizarre’ that the village name signs were originally erected at the northern end the trunk road, just before motorists enter neighbouring Pandy.

Moving them to the new location, he believed, would also help motorists coming up from Abergavenny who may be looking for properties which lie within the Llanvihangel Crucorney area.

“It’s a promising development,” he said.

He hoped he would get similar luck in persuading the Royal Mail to accommodate the shortcomings experienced by sharing a postcode - NP7 8DH - which covers such a wide and unwieldy area.

“We just want our own identity. We are not even recognised on sat navs,” he complained.

MCC said, “Our traffic and development team have engaged with the resident. Listening to his concerns the team agreed to reconsider his request to relocate the northbound village signs on the A465 subject to funding.

“Subsequently the relocation of the A465 northbound ‘Llanvihangel Crucorney’ village name signs is considered to have some merit compared to their current position further north along the A465.

“Subject to the necessary funding being made available in next year’s programme to undertake this piece of work it has been added to our forward programme for consideration to be undertaken in the next financial year programme of works.”