ANGRY villagers claim years of neglect left their main road in a dangerous state - now they are demanding Newport city council takes action.

Nearly 200 residents of Llande-vaud have written letters to council bosses expressing concern about the poor condition of Pencoed Lane.

They say they are fed up asking the council to do something about the appalling state of the road, which leads from the A48 to the village.

According to locals it has been 31 years since any significant resurfacing work has been done on the section, which has left it littered with potholes. Dorothy Tucker said: "A certain section of the lane is dangerous. There have been injuries to people and damage to cars."

Over the past two years residents say they have made numerous reports of the incidents to the council's highways department - but all to no avail. At a meeting of Newport council this week, Langstone councillor David Atwell presented letters from more than 180 people demanding the council finally take action.

Mrs Tucker said: "The council has a duty to ensure our roads are in a satisfactory state of repair and, in this case, it is clearly not doing so.

"They have allowed building work to go on in this village over the years, and must provide a suitable road for traffic to pass safely."

Councillor Atwell said: "The lane is used by many cars as a rat run through to the Magor road, but it is also used by schoolchildren and the elderly.

"There are potholes along the stretch which can catch the cyclists, pedestrians and motorists unaware.

"We need it resurfaced so that people can walk along the lane not having to constantly look down to check where they are treading so they can concentrate on the road and move out of the way of the cars."

Nobody from Newport council was available for comment as the Argus went to press.