Council having been advised many times and were aware of the dangerous condition of the Gwawr Street wall but allow it to collapse why?
Emergency work has been undertaken at Gwawr Street Aberaman so reported Rhondda Cynon Taf Council (RCRC) on their Twitter account question is why? RCTC explain “following the collapse of a river wall into the stream.” I note the refer to the Nant Gwawr as a River.
The Gwawr Street stone retaining wall which also serves as a flood barrier from the Nant Gwawr watercourse has finally collapse local resident were aware of the impending failure of the wall for many years as were the council who have had a barrier next to the section on wall that collapsed on Wednesday 10 July so we have been informed. Fortunately, no one was hurt many times RCTC have been warned of the dangerous condition of the wall and of the children who venture into the watercourse.
RCTC has already spent £1.1M on the Nant Gwawr flood, alleviation scheme but only did half the job if I was cynical the £1.1M spent was needed on the lower half of the Nant Gwawr but by enlarging the watercourse it paved the way for future development on the Blaengwawr School site allowing the developer to extract surface water from the site into the enlarged watercourse.
So now we have an emergency say RCTC well it’s an emergency made by RCTC and what do emergency repairs cost? A lot more than if the work was well planned out, as it should have been as a survey was carried out in 2014 before spending the £1.1M, the question is why did RCTC only refurbish the lower half as I explained I have my theory?
The question is now how much construction work is the contractor working for RCTC allowed to do? The bed of the Nant Gwawr has been allowed to silt up for years sediment has built up almost covering the culvert that serves the watercourse at the rear of 4 to 8 Gwawr Street the watercourse was only partly responsible for the flooding of a number of properties in Brook Street last October 13 when storm Callum hit Cynon Valley. The culvert that runs under Gwawr Street from the watercourse has yet to be cleaned out by RCTC so much for director of highways and local councillors and priorities.
Will the stonewall that is crumbling into the Nant Gwawr be reinstated or will the council find a cheap alternative, the council in a Flood Investigation says there is “a low to high risk is identified along the length of the Nant Gwawr, particularly along Gwawr Street, Cardiff Road, Curre Street and Holford Street. It is anticipated that this is associated with the culvert inlet adjacent to the junction of Cardiff Road and Gwawr Street.” If this is the case why has the general maintenance of this section of the Nant Gwawr been left to go in disrepair? When the updated Maps for Surface Water Flooding indicate that the highest risk posed to people and properties within Aberaman North is broadly associated with the Nant Gwawr with flood risk observed along the length of the watercourse.
AberdareOnline have requested information under the FOI requests RCTC say they are still investigating the cause of flooding in Brook Street, that is 100 meters long watercourse 10 months have past that equates to investigating 10 meters of watercourse each month. RCTC say “I have concluded that if the Council where to release the information at this time, it may prejudice the investigation, its conclusion and any potential enforcement action the Authority or other Risk Management Authority may be required to take.” It’s not helping the residents of Aberaman by the lack of maintenance to watercourses that might cause flooding again.
Temporary traffic lights have now been placed in Gwawr Street but pedestrians will have to take extra care, as there is no separate provision for them to access or leave where the lights have been installed and work protection barriers have been put in place.
In January AberdareOnline requested information knowing a number investigations had been carried out after the flooding at Brook Street RCTC have refused to answer the freedom of information requests below you have to ask why is this labour administration running a clandestine council and why?
B The technical assessment of the the Nant Gwawr?
C The highway structure assessment for Gwawr Street?
D The structural assessment report that will be completed by March 2019?
E The start and completion date when the Brick Culvert running under Gwawr Street will be cleaned out to its original invert level?
F The start and completion date when work to repair and reinstate the retaining wall to the Nant Gwawr that runs adjacent to Gwawr Street?
We now wait for the emergency work to start will it be another case of half a job only time will tell?
Photographs below show the further deterioration of the wall not where it collapsed
