Valley landslip evacuation order upheld
Neath Port Talbot council’s decision to evacuate four people from their homes in Ystalyfera following a series of landslides has been upheld.
Four people challenged an evacuation order issued by the council on three homes in Cyfyng Road in August 2017, but the decision was upheld unanimously by a Residential Property Tribunal in Cardiff.
The authority used the Emergency Prohibition Orders (EPOs) after being told by independent engineering and geological consultants Earth Science Partnership (ESP) there was “an immediate danger to life” concerning 10 properties in the Cyfyng Road area.
Other occupiers of homes at Cyfyng Road who were served with the EPOs have since been relocated and the authority has also helped rehome one of the appellants.
The leader of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, Councillor Rob Jones, said: “We are pleased the authority’s decision to relocate residents of privately owned homes in Cyfyng Road due to urgent safety concerns has now been upheld by an independent tribunal.
“The authority must now consider how to help the appellants – particularly those who have remained living at Cyfyng Road during the appeals process.”
Councillor Jones added the next step would now be to enter into dialogue with the appellants.
Dozens of slips have been recorded in the Pantteg area south west of Ystalyfera in the Swansea Valley since records began but there are likely to have been far more which went unrecorded.
Experts say the landslips are largely related to local geology and steep slopes but it is also likely heavy rainfall is linked to the events.
The three appeals (one was a joint appeal) related to three properties, 86 and 84 Cyfyng Road and the third property, 90/92 Cyfyng Road, which was merged into one property in 2001.
The properties, built on a slope, were affected by three recent landslips – in February, March and April 2017, during which several hundred