Pensioner refuses to budge for new £2billion road - which now curves round his home

Wales Online

2 days ago

Pensioner refuses to budge for new £2billion road - which now curves round his home
John Watkeys fought tooth and nail to keep the home he has lived in for 65 years
John Watkeys in his garden next to the Heads of the Valleys road
Pictures show a new £2billion road which curves past a man's home after he refused to have it knocked down - but did lose his beloved garden. John Watkeys, 75, was initially told officials would not need any of his land or house of 65 years to build the Heads of the Valleys road - which opens today (June 12).
But they later changed their minds - saying they needed to demolish his garden and some of his home in Merthyr Tydfil. The Welsh government offered to compulsory purchase the property but former microbiologist and keen gardener John refused.
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But he has lost a third of his beloved garden to the road scheme - where he grew fruit and veg and a beloved oak tree he used to sit under to watch bats. The 28-mile road now snakes round his house not through it and he's left with a massive wall at the end of his garden - which he has started to replant.
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The Heads of the Valleys road officially opened after 23 years of roadworks and a £2billion spend. John says he used to love sitting in his garden at night which then sat next to the relatively small A465.
John in his beloved garden, as it looks now
He said: ''The whole process has been upsetting. It's been stressful. I'm left picking up the pieces. 'It has been extremely stressful for a lot of years.
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''They said we want to knock down your garage and we need your drive. You can imagine my response. So they found another way. I like all types of gardening. I grow some of my own veg - kidney beans, broad beans, French beans, peppers, chiles, tomatoes.
'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 habit 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.
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'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. It's the rebuilding of it. I've turned it over once. I want to put in some lilacs and other plants which I've saved.
''I did a couple of hours out there yesterday digging it over, and it will need some more before I start planting. I wanted to plant some stuff in it this year, but somehow I can't see it. It's going to take me another 12 months to dig it over and get some humus in it.
'Unfortunately, at my age, I wont see the full effect of it', he said, adding: 'And all that is because of the road.'
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The Heads of the Valleys road cost £2billion to build
He said there were initially assurances that the new road would not take any of his land - but they then said they wanted to knock down part of his house. The Welsh government offered to buy the house, in the Cefn Coed area of Merthyr, but John said he declined.
He said he grew up there and 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.
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He said: 'Two of them came and sat down. I made them a cup of tea and a cup of coffee. I can remember it now like it was yesterday. They said 'our plans have changed. We're going to knock your garage down. We want the whole of your drive for our working area and you can have that bit back when we're finished'.
'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.''
John does not think he will live long enough to see his replanting efforts reach maturity
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After challenging that initial offer, John said the firm came back and said 'we've found another way of doing it. We just need this bit of the garden'.
John said: 'You get compensation but it still hasn't been settled yet. It's a compulsory purchase so they can do what they want. They were piledriving right outside my back door. That was hellish noisy. Extremely noisy.'
John has been given interim compensation from the Welsh government for the loss of his garden but is awaiting a full settlement.
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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'.