A £2BILLION road has been built around a pensioner’s garden after he refused to move from the family home he has lived in for 65 years.
The new road, which curves around John Watkeys’ home, officially opened yesterday in Merthyr Tydfill.
John now has to replant his garden from scratch[/caption]
John, 75, was first told by officials that they would not need any of his land or house to build the Heads of Valleys road, but they later changed their minds.
However, John stood his ground and, instead, the road now curves around his home after he refused to have it knocked down.
The Welsh government offered to compulsory purchase the property, but the former microbiologist and keen gardener refused.
While John was luckily able to keep his forever home, he still lost a third of his beloved garden to the road scheme.
He said: “The whole process has been upsetting. It’s been stressful.
“I’ve been left picking up the pieces.
“It has been extremely stressful for a lot of years.”
John used to enjoy sitting out in his garden and taking in the wildlife[/caption]
He hopes to return it to its former glory, but is fearful he won’t live to see it[/caption]
This is one of the UK’s most expensive and longest running road projects[/caption]
John used to grow fruit and veg in the garden, and would also sit under an oak tree to watch bats, however, this was all lost to the new road.
He said: “In the evenings, bats used to come around the oak tree, for the gants and insects.
“Now, you don’t see any. I miss it. It was a sign of life, really.”
The 28-mile stretch of road snakes round his house and he is now left with a massive wall at the end of his garden, where he has started to replant.
John explained: “They said we want to knock down your garage and we need your drive.
“You can imagine my response.
“So they found another way.”
He added: “When I was a kid, you’d look out onto the garden, and there’d be goldfinches, bullfinches, tits, wrens, a couple of jays and woodpeckers.
“You’d hear owls in the evenings.
“You’d always have a few hedgehogs, but now, you’re lucky if you see a few blackbirds.
“There aren’t any birds left, nothing.
“It’s almost devoid of the wildlife that you used to see.
“It’s because the habitat is gone. I’ve lost oaks, I’ve lost hawthorns.
“They took down a lovely 70-year-old oak tree at the bottom of my garden.”
John used to grow kidney beans, peppers, chillies, and tomatoes before he lost part of his garden to the road[/caption]
The road crosses the south Wales coalfields and a national park[/caption]
The Heads of the Valleys road has now officially opened after 23 years of roadworks and a £2billion spend.
What was once a relatively small A465, is now a major road.
Some nicknamed it the “road from hell,” while the work that started in 2002 was being completed.
This was due to the congestion it caused, but now all the cones have gone and traffic flows freely.
First Minister Eluned Morgan, has named the upgrade Wales’ biggest project since devolution in 1999, giving valleys communities “the same opportunities” as other areas.
John explained that now the roadworks are complete, he is trying to rebuild his garden in a bid to make it as special as it once was.
He said: “I did a couple of hours out there yesterday digging it over, and it will need some more before I start planting.
“Unfortunately, at my age, I won’t see the full effect of it.
“And all that is because of the road.”
John explained that despite initial assurances that the new road would not take any of his land, they later wanted to knock down part of his house, with the Welsh government even offering to buy it off of him.
However, John refused to sell the home he grew up in, in the Cefn Coed area of Merthyr.
He said that not only was this his childhood home, but both his parents and wife died there and he could not part with it.
John recalled how, in February 2019, advisors from the firm involved in the road expansion requested a meeting and came to see him at his home.
He said: “I can remember it like it was yesterday.
“They said “our plans have changed. We’re going to knock down your garage. We want the whole of your drive for our working area and you can have that bit back when we are finished.””
John continued: “The heating, my hot water and everything was at the back of the garage, so I think you can imagine my response to that.
“You fight it as best you can.”
After challenging this offer, John said they came back to him asking just to take a bit of the garden.
He said: “You get compensation but it still hasn’t settled yet.
“It’s a compulsory purchase so they can do what they want.
“They were pile driving right outside my back door.
“That was hellish noisy. Extremely noisy.”
John claims he is not done with the Welsh government yet and has a few more fights in him[/caption]
The road hopes to bring prosperity to one of the most deprived parts of Wales[/caption]
John isn’t the only unhappy local[/caption]
John has been given interim compensation from the Welsh government for the loss of his garden but is waiting for a full settlement.
The pensioner isn’t alone in his frustration, as neighbour, Daryl Wilkins, claims the works have left his home with cracks in the walls.
The former fish and chip van owner, 79, said: “I had a survey on the house before work started and there were no cracks.
“Now my house has cracks on outside and inside walls and that’s because of vibrations from piling going on outside my house.”
He added: “Now I’ve got damage throughout the house, it will take thousands of pounds to repair.
“I don’t want compensation, I just want my house repaired.”
Transport secretary Ken Skates said he thanked residents “for their patience during the construction period” and that the Welsh government continued to “work with them to resolve any issues.”
The Sun has reached out to Merthyr council and Transport for Wales for further comment.
