LIVING ON TOP OF M4
Residents reveal what it’s like to live above busy Brynglas tunnels
IN many ways, Brynglas Road is one of the most peaceful spots in Newport, with its leafy streets, pretty front gardens and picturesque views of the Valleys to the north. After a few minutes, it’s easy to forget that residents here live on top of one of the busiest stretches of road in Wales.
“The motorway noise isn’t really a problem, you just get used to it after a while,” said Bob Richards, who has lived on the street for 27 years.
Brynglas Road, a long, winding street set on the hill after which it is named, sits right on the edge of the M4 – and right on top of the tunnels that share its name.
“I remember 10 years ago, when there was a fire and the tunnels got cracked,” said Mr Richards, 53. “Newport was just crazy,” he said, discussing the congestion that followed the fire.
Despite there being no fatalities, the fire which ripped through the tunnels back in 2011 hit the headlines when a lorry driver experienced a lucky escape after he was rescued by another motorist.
And although nothing quite as dramatic as this has happened in the 10 years since, Brynglas has barely been out of the news.
Originally opened in 1967, the 1,180ft tunnels were the first of their kind in the UK. Even today, in 2021, they remain the only twin tunnels on the UK’s motorway network.
Weaving their way through the hill directly below the feet of residents up above, the tunnels are a topic of conversation with which the people of Brynglas Road are intimately familiar.
“The motoring noise doesn’t bother me up here, you just get used to it after a while. And it depends on which direction the wind blows really,” said Bob Richards.
“It was lovely in lockdown last year because you could sit in the garden and there was no noise,” he said.
However, this didn’t last, and things soon returned to the way they were.
“I went to work yesterday for the first time in a year. I was driving at about 7am and the eastbound carriageway was virtually at a standstill,” Mr Richards, who works near junction 28, said.
“Sometimes, it’s quicker to walk home. If the traffic’s that bad, I just leave the car and it takes an hour and a quarter to walk home from work.”
He added that he doesn’t think Newport can handle the sheer volume of traffic that travels through it.
“Newport gets gridlocked, that’s the problem,” he said. “My personal view is that we need the black route. As much as I hate to admit it, I think we need it.”
Mr Richards also said that using public transport as an alternative proves difficult as there are “no guarantees”about when local buses will turn up. As a result, he explained, people turn to their cars instead.
Elsewhere on the street, 78-yearold Graham Cockerham also described how local buses were an issue for residents in the area.
“They say to use public transport, but you can’t get on it,” he said.
However, as a driver who regularly uses the motorway, he acknowledges that congestion is an issue, and said the black route proposed back in 2013 would be a good solution.
“We get a problem on the motorway, and then town is gridlocked,” he said.
Another resident on the street described how her husband, who worked in Bristol before the pandemic, started to drive into work after experiencing frequent delays on train services from Newport.
“There were a lot of delays, a lot of cancellations, and a lot of service issues,” said Sameena Haroon, 35, describing the issues her husband had when relying on trains to commute back and forth to England.
Another resident of Brynglas Road who did not wish to be identified, also shared concerns over public transport in the area.
“This time last year we didn’t have a service at all, and then obviously people needed it back,” said the resident, who was born and raised in Brynglas.
“We got back the local service, but you have to ring. You ring up, and they can say ‘three minutes’ or ‘40 minutes.’”
The resident also described what life on top of the tunnels is like.
“About five or six years ago, there were talks about another tunnel that was going to go either to the right or the left of me,” said the resident, who has lived in the area for more than 70 years.
“We were all prepared and thinking, ‘Are they going to shift us?’”
Although the Welsh Government has confirmed it is not considering widening the tunnels, the resident added that they lived with the fact that, should the Government change its mind, their house could be at risk.
“I don’t want to move. I’ve been brought up here, it’s my home, and I know it [Brynglas] inside out.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We remain fully committed to tackling congestion in the area.
“The South East Wales Transport Commission has made a series of recommendations to tackle congestion, including more train stations and services, more convenient bus services and better cycle routes and active travel facilities.
“The commission’s recommendations have led to measures to improve traffic flow on the M4, such as the average 50mph cameras soon to be live.
“We are taking their recommendations forward alongside Transport for Wales and our partners.”
REFUGEES and asylum-seekers from the Middle East in Newport are getting a taste of home thanks to supplies donated to a local food bank by one of Wales’ leading catering wholesalers.
Olive oil, tortilla-style wraps and chickpeas are going into up to 30 food parcels a week put together by the Feed Newport CIC food bank in the city’s Commercial Road.
They were among a major consignment dropped off by Harlech Foodservice, who supply businesses, schools and care homes across Wales, and who have started making regular trips to drop off much-needed supplies to South Wales food banks.
Their first delivery also included pallets of corn flakes and porridge, ketchup, rice pudding, muffin and pastry mixes, fruit juice, lamb gravy and a host of other items, even including hot chocolate sticks, almond and banana milk, marmalade, mayonnaise and hot dogs.
Gemma Walker, manager of Feed Newport, said: “We are so grateful. I had the phone call from Harlech saying they’d like to donate and then the lorry turned up and I just thought ‘Oh, wow’ – I was nearly crying.
“The smile on my face was just so big because I knew how many people that could feed.”
Among them are up to 30 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from the Middle East, and Gemma added: “Refugees only get £35 a week and they’re not allowed to work and many of them have large families, so that doesn’t go very far.
“We are the only food bank I know of that provides halal foods as well as chickpeas, pulses and spices in food parcels and if Harlech are able to help us out that way it’s brilliant.”
The Harlech delivery list also took in food banks across south-east Wales at Ebbw Vale in Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Aberbargoed in the Rhymney Valley, Barry and Pontypridd, and they have more planned for the area in the coming weeks.
The deliveries are organised by Ceri Brown, Harlech Foodservices digital project manager, who said: “We have often donated to food banks but with the pandemic the need is so great and like so many others we were inspired by Marcus Rashford and wanted to do more to help.
“The effect of the current lockdown has been to leave us with too much stock, so we have made arrangements and are delivering to the Feed Newport food bank and to other food banks across South Wales.
“Now that we know there is a significant demand at Newport for Middle Eastern style foodstuffs we will try to make sure that our future deliveries can also cater for these unfortunate people, and provide them with a taste of home.
“Gemma and her team at Newport and the volunteers at the other food banks are great, very enthusiastic, and are doing some incredible work and we’re glad to be able to help them.”
Mandy Haydon-Hall, manager of the Pontypridd Foodbank, said: “We were distributing between up to 300kg before lockdown and now it’s closer to a ton with the number of food parcels up from 3,000 to 5,000.
“Hawthorn High School had asked us to support them with special treat bags for some of their vulnerable learners and the catering packs from Harlech are perfect, with crumble, muffin and pastry mixes which they can easily do with their parents.
“With Easter coming up we will be able to send them out with Easter Eggs and some food bank activities because learning to cook something is such a valuable skill.”
Harlech Foodservice managing director David Cattrall, who lives in the Vale of Glamorgan, said: “We see ourselves as an all-Wales business and we want to supply businesses across the whole country and the same goes for food banks in these difficult times.
“Clearly, because of lockdown, we are not supplying the amount we would normally to our customers in the health, care and education sectors or to restaurants and pubs, so that has left us with £250,000 of surplus food.
“In the circumstances the best thing we can do with that surplus is to direct it to food banks across Wales and as long as we have a surplus then we will continue to do that.
“It’s good that we are able to help people having a difficult time and we’re delighted that the food we have donated is being put to good use for vulnerable people across Wales.”
For more information about the Feed Newport CIC go to www. facebook.com/feednewport247