One of the issues which has been raised with me a number of times is that of road traffic in the village. Many people are concerned about the safety of pedestrians, especially children, and driving out of their property onto the road. Merthyr Rd and Blaenavon Rd are of particular concern but there may be others.

I have had several discussions with the Police about this and they have done some monitoring of traffic speeds. So far, there have not been large numbers of examples of exceeding the existing speed limits. However, as we all know if you are walking on a narrow pavement or where there is no pavement, or if you are trying to get out of your driveway where you can’t see very much even 30 mph can feel dangerous. It may be that some of the speed restrictions need revising and it is clear that some drivers are not driving with consideration for other road users.

This issue is still under active discussion by the Police and we are also looking at what the Police and the County Council can do together to improve road safety. We hope to have a joint meeting soon to look together at what else might be done to make our local roads safer.