Dormice blamed for delay in main road repair work

Dormice have been blamed for the continued delay in the repair a main road carriageway linking Wales and the Midlands.

There have been delays on the A40 from Monmouth towards Ross-on-Wye since February last year when rockfall caused the northbound carriageway at Ganarew, in Herefordshire, known as Leys Bend, to close.

A system has been in place which sees northbound drivers, leaving Wales, head along a lane on the southbound carriageway as work continued.

The work has been delayed another six months due to dormice in the slippage, a council committee meeting was told.

Carl Touhig from Monmouthshire council cited Leys Bend as an example of how repairs and maintenance work can fall behind schedule.

When briefing the council's public services scrutiny committee on the management of the road network, he said work had been put on hold over concerns there may be dormice in the slippage itself, putting at least six months on the job.

"I wouldn't want to see dormice displaced either but it is a difficult thing for us when badgers, otters, dormice, bats and other species require special measures before we can go in and do work and adds a lot of time to our programmes," he said.

Delays in the construction project, which is the responsibility of the UK's National Highways agency, have included assessment of the potential for further rockfalls and ecological precautions.

Works that have to be pushed back will be funded from the council's own capital funding budget.

Mr Touhig also warned rising costs in the construction industry have created a "fragile market" and many contractors are "struggling" to complete projects within contracts they signed four or more years ago.

He said Monmouthshire could struggle to attract contractors for some of its schemes.

"There's 22 local authorities all having a share of £120m and all going out to the same contractors at the same time," he said.