Council will repair crumbling wall but not replace

The residents of four homes said they were worried for their safety after a wall separating their gardens from a river collapsed

A council has said it will fix a wall separating residents' properties from a river that collapsed, despite previously denying responsibility.

Part of 100m wall, which bridged the gap between the gardens of four homes in Ystradgynlais, Powys, and the River Tawe, collapsed in February after heavy rain.

According to a report, the remaining structure shows visible signs of "scour" - meaning its foundations could be affected by soil erosion.

Powys County Council concluded it does in fact own the wall, and had four options available to resolve the situation and chose to repair the wall, but not to replace the structure which would provide river bank protection.

The wall was built by Brecknockshire County Council in 1912 and ownership fell to Powys council after the local government reorganisation in Wales in 1995/1996.

But the council's highway service had said it was the asset of either Welsh government or National Resources Wales - both had denied this.

After the wall's partial collapse the residents of Llys Tawel engaged lawyers that argued the council, as owner of the wall, was responsible for it and had a duty of care to "take reasonable steps to prevent natural occurrences on its land from causing damage to neighbouring properties".

After taking their own legal advice, Powys council "concluded" that it owns the wall.

The council said that the wall would be "formally recognised as a corporate asset, with future inspections and maintenance funded through corporate resource".

It added that the funding would be "drawn from the highways capital programme to support the repair of the preferred option".

Powys council opted for option three, which council chiefs said was the preferred option as it was a "tried and tested form of erosion control offering bank protection but would not be reinstated to the original wall level".

It will cost the council £850,000.

Option four was for a direct replacement of the retaining wall, providing riverbank protection, which would cost £1 million. This was supported by residents.

Kevin Davies, and neighbours Imogen and Justin Crewe, previously said the crumbling wall made them feel like they had to "evacuate" their homes as soon as they noticed bad weather.

Powys councillor Susan McNicholas said: "It has taken a long time to get to the stage we are now at.

"The residents will rest a lot more easily once the work has been completed."