Residents of a Gilwern housing development have been campaigning for several years for the provision of a footpath on the country lane leading to the village nursery and primary school.

They argue that their children face serious danger from traffic using Cae Meldon Road every time they make the journey to and from school.

Monmouthshire County Council officers are due to meet local councillors in the next few weeks to discuss a new proposal to make the route safer - but a spokesperson stresses that there simply isn’t enough money in the highways budget to cover the cost of creating a footpath along a stretch of road approximately 400 metres long.

The council has already erected signs designed to slow traffic down to 30mph and warning of pedestrians using the road.

The latest proposal is to introduce a traffic ‘calming’ scheme.

But residents feel that far more is needed.

One of the campaigners, Peter Jeremiah, told the Chronicle that he and other residents were extremely unhappy and concerned that ‘after several petitions, council meetings, hundreds of phone calls, letters and emails to the police, the local MP, Monmouthshire County Council, Brecon Beacons National Park Authority and the Highways Agency there is still no safe pedestrian access to the village’.

He said that, following considerable collective pressure, they had managed to persuade the powers-that-be that 60 mph was not a suitable speed limit for the only route to a nursery and primary school but added, ‘It seems that until there is a serious incident on the commute to nursery or school there will be no pavement’.

In an open letter he accuses the powers-that-be of ‘placing budgets and bureaucracy, ahead of the safety of vulnerable children’.

He points out that 36 under 16s make the daily commute, where they are heading towards oncoming traffic and exposed to 7.5 tonne lorries ‘hurtling between the stonewalls and hedgerows’.

“Before you hastily retort with the ‘actions’ you have already taken, the reasons you can’t do more, and (of course) the person, people, authority we need to get in contact with in order to make some progress….we have been riding on this buck passing merry-go-round for three years.”

The letter calls on the relevant authorities to work together and ends, ‘Will someone feel moved enough to prevent a potentially life-threatening incident between an oncoming vehicle and one of the 36?’.

County councillor Simon Howarth said he sympathised with the residents but MCC simply couldn’t afford to fund such a project at the moment when money was needed for more pressing things.

From his knowledge of engineering, he said he estimated that the cost of creating a footpath and widening the carriageway would be likely to exceed £100,000.

He pointed out that MCC had objected to the original planning application for the housing development at Ty Mawr, raising the issue of safe routes to school and the highway not being safe for pedestrians.

But their objections had been overruled by the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority.

“I appreciate that the residents want a footpath from the estate up into the village but it doesn’t seem fair that this cost should fall to MCC. Why is it MCC’s problem when they objected to the development in the first place?

“We’ve managed to introduce an advisory speed limit of 30mph through a technicality concerning the link with the Heads of the Valleys road - although there’s a problem of enforcing that kind of limit on a country lane.

“We have also put up signs warning of pedestrians using the road.

“A scheme is currently being designed to introduce narrowing and street calming measures that will come up for consultation in the next few weeks. It won’t be acceptable to everyone but it’s reasonable to expect it will be adopted.

“Basically we’re trying our best and will introduce a scheme there that we can afford - although I don’t think it will be a footpath.

“There are places all over the county where residents could argue for a footpath that would make a road safer for pedestrians. I’ve faced similar problems with my own kids getting to and from school.

“The top and bottom of it is we need to put something in place with the money we have available.”

A spokesperson for MCC added, “We are looking at improving the safety of pedestrians walking along Cae Meldon in Gilwern but this will not involve providing a footway since it’s not a feasible option.

“Highways engineers have a meeting with local members next month (February) to discuss the matter further.”