Work begins on tearing down abandoned homes
DEMOLITION work has started on an abandoned terraced street in the South Wales Valleys, as these striking drone images show.
The area, in Merthyr Vale, that was once a home to countless generations who spent their whole lives on the same street is now looking very different to how it did just over two years ago.
What was once a tight-kit community full of life is now starting to look a lot more like a building site.
When the properties were filled with residents, each morning the women who lived there would throw open their doors, bring out their chairs, and catch up on the gossip before starting their day.
At every opportunity the tables would come out, laden with food, for street parties which would carry on down the narrow terraced street and spill into the park at the end of the road.
Cousins lived next door to cousins, while mothers and daughters lived opposite each other on the colourful streets just a stone’s throw away from the nearby colliery.
It might sound like something from a bygone era, but for those on Taff Street and Crescent Street it was just everyday life.
But today paints a very different picture.
Now the streets are empty apart from the workmen, building equipment and smashed bricks that litter the ground.
The houses in Merthyr Vale have stood empty for some time, and now they are finally being torn down.
This is because, back in March 2018, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council made the decision to proceed with a compulsory purchase order to take ownership of 100 houses and demolish the terrace.
The decision came after the streets backing onto the River Taff were found to be unsafe to live in long term due to the risk of flooding.
Now pictures have emerged of them finally starting to be demolished.
Images show that some of the houses have already been smashed to pieces, while workers progress with the plans on site.
There is various construction equipment in use and it looks like progress is being made efficiently.
Streets look almost chopped up as sections of terraced rows are now missing.
The streets are looking a lot emptier, and quieter, than they once did as little as three years ago.
Even so, a lot has changed since progress has started on the demolition.
Time will only tell what life has in store for the area next.