Further to our earlier correspondence, we must now pose a straightforward yet pressing inquiry: why has Caerphilly County Borough Council neglected to uphold its own transport-related planning requirements imposed on Oakleaf Recycling Ltd to safeguard residents’ wellbeing and standard of living?
Inhabitants of Wattsville are experiencing the daily repercussions.
Properties tremble as large goods vehicles travel past, windowpanes vibrate, and video evidence demonstrates lorries driving onto footpaths merely to cope with the volume of vehicular traffic.
This constitutes more than an occasional nuisance – it represents a persistent and deteriorating hazard to public safety.
The council’s own infrastructure improvements are being rendered ineffective.
What purpose does allocating funds to speed reduction measures and safety initiatives serve if thousands of heavy goods vehicle journeys are effectively tolerated through a populated valley weekly?
Significantly, the statistics do not correspond.
Oakleaf’s initial planning application indicated 48 heavy goods vehicle movements daily at an annual throughput of 100,000 tonnes.
However, their own documentation supporting expansion to 150,000 tonnes reveals they are already handling approximately 64 movements each day.
This prompts a critical concern: are current planning obligations being violated, and if so, why is compliance action not being taken?
Concurrently, locals describe persistent use of a weight-limited road by substantial vehicles, effectively transforming Wattsville into a shortcut rather than utilising the Ebbw Valley Bypass.
The outcomes are apparent – three drainage cover failures within just the past twelve months, substantial wheel tracks carved into the carriageway – and particularly troubling given the area’s sorrowful record of numerous road deaths.
Planning obligations are designed for a specific purpose: to reconcile commercial operations with community protection. Should these remain unenforced, they hold no value.
We renew our appeal to the council to intervene – before this escalating predicament causes serious injury to individuals or property.
Cllr Janine Reed and Cllr Jan Jones, Independent ward councillors for Ynysddu