"There we go - a perfect example!" Tony Brooks said as we watch two cars jolt to a stop inches from each other, aggressively blowing their horns before quickly speeding away. The timing is a coincidence; standing at the small intersection on Viaduct Way in Newport, which leads off in three directions, Tony and his neighbour Alison Williams had just been explaining how many close calls there had been in the past few months.
"It's like a blind spot - cars are coming from opposite directions and neither one can see the other," Alison said. "There's been so many near misses. And we are walking straight out onto that road."
Tony and Alison are just two of 19 households on Forge Mews in Bassaleg on the west side of the city who have been faced with numerous issues since Old Bassaleg Bridge, the only main route to their estate, was closed on August 6, 2021. A structural review by Newport City Council at the time found the bridge was unsafe and at risk of collapsing under its own weight, and some residents were moved to hotels and temporary accommodation. WalesOnline later revealed the bridge had only been inspected four times in 32 years. You can read more about that here.
Read more: The scrapped bus service that has left a community feeling 'completely cut off'
Almost one year on the bridge remains shut off to cars, including for Forge Mews residents, with steel barriers and closure signs surrounding the structure today. The bridge was reopened to pedestrians in January this year, and residents can come and go via a narrow path at one side. But there appears to be little word on when it will fully open or when residents - some of whom have been there for decades - can expect a long-awaited return to normality.
At the moment residents have to park over the bridge on Viaduct Way as they can't park in their driveways, before navigating the narrow footpath past the barriers on the bridge to get to their homes. "Obviously other people use it, kids from school use it," Alison explained. "We've got permits but they're not visible ones. Three residents have been fined for being in legitimate parking spaces [on Viaduct Way]. Tony has even been fined for parking on the street even though he has a permit."
The closure has created logistical nightmares for residents who have been unable to get many deliveries as most services cannot access their street. They've even been given trolleys by the council to carry shopping from their cars or from the supermarket.
"We've got no deliveries of anything," Alison said. "White goods, Amazon, Asda, Iceland, nobody. Iceland have got a three-minute slot. If they park here they are not allowed to leave their vans."
"We've been told that if we do an order as a street they'll bring the van down and we've got to walk across to physically get all of our shopping, which we're planning to do around Christmas time. The council gave us all trolleys which we have to take our shopping all across. It's great when it's raining!"
Tony's 89-year-old mother, who also lives in Forge Mews, is disabled, and he is concerned about access for emergency services to the street. There is an emergency access via one end of the street through a gate which residents claim is often locked.
"They have to come off a 70mph bypass to get in," Alison said. "The first time we had an emergency on the street, four or five months ago, a lady had broken her wrist, and it took 25 minutes [for someone to arrive]."
Tony said the issues over access in an emergency were "scary". "The emergency services that arrived first on that occasion didn't know the code on the gate, so we had to get our next door neighbour to cut the big, thick chain with bolt cutters. It took about 20 minutes but it was the only way they could get in. Fortunately it wasn't a life-threatening injury. If someone had had a heart attack, they would've died."
Residents claim the closure has created other issues including antisocial behaviour, rats and fire hazards with the unkempt grass verges on the river facing the street.
"There is a blatant problem with drugs. They sit on the bridge and you can be walking down on an evening and it's blatantly going on, or you'll have a van parked and a car further down and there will be kids on bikes going back and forth," Alison said. "But we've been told there is no antisocial behaviour.
"The council has cut some of the grass but they can't get onto the bridge to cut it all. You can imagine if that catches fire, [and] the wind blows the opposite way, it's going to have the houses over there or that one down the side, and it'll catch all the others."
One resident who wanted to remain anonymous said: "It's an absolute nightmare. My main issue is we can't get anything done at all. We've had nobody come and speak to us. They've left us on our own.
"I need the plumber there because I'm having to put my heating on to get my water running to do the washing up. But I can't get a plumber over there, because they won't come as they can't carry all their stuff over.
"My freezer is on its way out - what am I going to do if that actually goes? No-one is going to carry one over there. We park and you've got cars coming up and down. They opened that access road and then all of a sudden they had to shut it because of money.
"I've asked about compensation but the response was we don't get paid for inconvenience. But it's not just inconvenience - it's beyond that. I spent years trying to buy my house, and what the value of it is now, I don't know. I'm extremely concerned about that and whether there will be an impact . People might not want to buy a house here in case this happens again."
"It's having an effect... Your mental health goes, you know. Because all of us, we just don't know what's going to happen."
Another resident who didn't want to be named and was crossing the bridge with a trolley to get shopping said: "My young son is autistic and simple everyday tasks are more difficult. So trying to cross over the road with cars coming from all directions with him is very difficult.
"There are issues with rats since they put bins at the top of the street for us. I've looked out and had a big rat sitting in my garden. You've got issues because obviously the animals are coming and tearing up the bin bags.
"It's the lack of empathy that I think is most annoying. It's been a case of 'sorry for the inconvenience, but get on with it'. So that's what we've had to do - just get on with it."
Alison and Tony claim most of the issues had not been there before the bridge was closed, and added that they were frustrated by a lack of information from Newport City Council. "They promised us an update every two weeks, but we haven't had anything at all since March," Tony said. "So much for two weeks. They say they are working to do this or that."
To make things worse, the other pedestrian bridge at the end of Forge Mews is closing for ten days on August 16, which Alison said will impact residents further.
"I don't know why. People will have to go all the way up, past the school, and go all the way around to get to a bus. I work until late at night and come back that way because I get on the bus that goes to Blackwood. I can't use that bridge now for ten days. Is it going to be longer? We don't know."
Locals have been further infuriated after a temporary access road from the A467 Rogerstone by-pass to Forge Mews, which was created after the initial closure to allow residents access, was closed earlier this year.
"We had access straight out to the bypass until March but they came around to our houses at about half past six and put letters through our door, didn't even face us, and said they were closing it on March 7," Alison said. "So since then we've been over here. They said it was too expensive to keep it going.
"You've got all these bridges being repaired in Newport, a supercentre being built in Ringland. You've got a £19 million leisure centre being built in Newport. They've got a Purple Flag. And we've been forgotten.
"We want the council to give us a face-to-face meeting. All we want is for them to say what is going on. Tell us."
Alison said residents had organised a meet-up near the bridge on Saturday, August 6 to mark one year since the bridge closed, while Tony added that they were even considering drastic measures to force action. "Our next step, if we get no progress now, is we will stop paying council tax," he said.
A Newport City Council spokesperson said: "Investigations into the issues with the Old Bassaleg Bridge have been carried out, and we are currently working with specialists on putting together options for repairing the bridge. This is a complex process that has been further affected by the presence of numerous utility services apparatus within and below the bridge structure.
"We are expecting to be able to commence repair work soon and will keep residents of Forge Mews updated as to when this will start once we have a date finalised. We are committed to getting this issue resolved as soon as possible. We are also working to find alternative arrangements for maintaining the grass. We will keep residents informed of this as well once a solution has been found."
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