Update on demolition of homes on Wales' most polluted street

Demolition of the 23 homes on Woodside Terrace in Hafodyrynys is now five-and-a-half weeks into the 14-week project, and now just the front walls of a handful of the terraced homes remain.

The work began on October 14, with the leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council Cllr Philippa Marsden declaring it a “symbolic day” in combatting air pollution in the borough.

The road was Wales’ most polluted road, having recorded the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide in the UK outside of central London.

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To combat this, the demolition was approved to remove the ‘street canyon’ effect in the valley, reducing the concentration of air pollution by allowing it space to dissipate.

A compulsory purchase order was agreed for the 20 terraced homes, two semi-detached and one detached home at 150 per cent market value.

Woodside Terrace in Hafodyrynys on October 14 (left) and November 22.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Cllr Marsden speaking when demolition began. “It means we’ll start to see an improvement in the air quality in the area, and that impacts the residents that are remaining and it means that we can hit our target in terms of delivering the air quality improvements in the area.

“We are taking away an area that was causing high levels of concerns in terms of high levels of nitrogen dioxide.

The only remaining walls standing on Wales' most polluted street.

“This is a symbolic day in terms of we are improving this section of the road in our county borough.

“We have had to follow a long and complex process to get here, but throughout this we have always put the put the interests of the residents of Hafodyrynys first.”