RESIDENTS of Upper Brynaman and those travelling through the village are being urged to allow themselves extra journey time due to numerous roadworks currently ongoing in the village.

Apart from the usual bottleneck where Mountain Road converges with Station Road, there are extensive works currently place higher up Mountain Road and other works are underway in Cwmgarw Road and New Road.

The work has left many residents fuming, that better planning was not carried out prior to start of the schemes.

The work being undertaken by Welsh Water, and said to be part of a programme of essential maintenance procedures, began a month ago and is expected to continue until October.

In addition, residents have also complained that they have been provided with an 0845 number to dial in case of traffic control lights failing.

One resident told the Guardian that the utility company should have provided an 0800 free phone number rather than one charged at local rates.

He claimed that the company had had to be contacted on numerous occasions after the lights had been knocked over.