MY POTHOLES TORMENT
DRIVING into The Boulevards estate, the first thing to negotiate is a giant pothole, quickly followed by a higgledy-piggledy patchwork of tarmac and concrete and raised drains.
The kerbstones at the roadside are unfinished and makeshift tarmac ramps have been dumped on the corners to access the pavement.
You would be forgiven for thinking the Persimmon-built estate had just been completed. But the houses, and the roads through the development, have been there for more than four years.
Twelve months ago, residents vented their frustrations about the nuisance and damage being caused by the shocking state of the roads on the estate in Newport.
Now, they are are worried the unfinished state of the roads will affect their house price and paint the estate in a negative light.
Bethany Payne moved into the estate in August 2019 and says the condition of the surface makes it difficult to leave her home in her electric wheelchair.
The 23-year-old graduate said she and her partner moved to their rental home on the estate to be close to the neighbouring Office for National Statistics, where her partner works.
Ms Payne’s health means she currently does not work. Her main trip out is to go to the nearby Asda, which she manages a couple of times a week, but even that is fraught with difficulties.
“It’s so hard to get off the pavement and onto the road,” she said. “I have to line my chair up exactly right. I can’t use any of the paths because I don’t know if I can get off the pavement, so I just drive down the road.
“There are so many big puddles in the road, and my wheelchair is electric powered. I dread to think the wear and tear that it must be doing.
“It’s supposed to be a normal pavement, but even going to Asda is a real struggle and such a palaver.”
Residents on the estate enjoy a special perk which gives them reduced-price access to the National Trust Tredegar House a few hundred metres down the road. But Ms Payne, can’t even enjoy this.
“I should be able to go over and