VILLAGERS in some small communities in Monmouthshire were still cut off from the outside world as the Beacon went to press last night (6th March) despite pleas to the council to clear their road.

One resident, Ann Eggleton of Llanfaenor, is quite stoic about her position, snowed in down an isolated lane yet she is always preparing for such eventualities.

She told the Beacon that she spends every autumn preparing for winter and stocking up on oil, matches and tins of food for just an eventuality. “This is the worst year since I moved here in 1989,” she said. She is in contact with friends in Monmouth who have told her all the snow has cleared with them.

All three roads leading to the village north of Monmouth have been snowbound since Thursday 1st March and residents had to make a direct plea to the chief executive of Monmouthshire County Council (MCC), Paul Matthews, after their repeated requests to the Highways team brought no respite for the snowbound community.

Roger Hoggins, Head of Operations for MCC said that appalling conditions across the county with drifts up to ten feet “meant that even some of our machines struggled, such was the nature of these danger to life weather conditions across southern Britain. 

“We had hoped to have released a snow blower and tractor Monday, 5th March, to unblock the routes around Llanfaenor but we weren’t able to complete work on a road we were committed to.  The snow blower and associated resources were released for work on Tuesday morning (6th March) and have been deployed as planned.  We anticipate the three routes into Llanfaenor will be opened later that day.”