There’s nothing quite like driving through the quaint and green county of Monmouthshire. With its winding hills and beautiful scenery, it’s an unbeatable spot for a quiet weekend away.
That’s until you reach Caldicot where locals say they spend hours a day in queues of traffic, hands firmly on their heads while being abused by other frustrated drivers. The town in the west of the county near Newport is one of the few, including neighbouring Magor and Undy, being used as a pilot scheme to introduce 20mph speed limits on all restricted roads in Wales in a bid to reduce casualties, encourage eco-friendly transport use and “make Wales more attractive”.
Planners might have been picturing scenes of children and their parents walking hand in hand to school while cyclists commute breezily beside them. You only have to drive on the newly 20mph Newport Road and Caldicot bypass for a couple of minutes to realise that might be far removed from the reality in store for Wales’ towns and cities.
