RESIDENTS of a terrace street in the valleys are furious after it emerged there are plans to site a second court on their doorsteps.

People in William Street, Blackwood, already have a magistrates court in their street.

Now the Department for Constitutional Affairs wants to relocate the town's county court from Blackwood Road to land on Hall Street where the disused Kwik Save supermarket stands.

This parcel of land is located at the end of William Street. At a meeting at Blackwood Magistrates court last week, about 70 residents expressed strong disapproval of the proposal to representatives of the court service.

Planning permission for the court building has yet to be submitted to Caerphilly county borough council but it has emerged it would be a two-storey facility with around 13 car parking spaces.

Dean Gilson, 39, of William Street, said: "We are concerned about parking because there may be just enough for staff at the new court but there will certainly not be enough for visitors.

"There are a lot of objections to this proposal in the street. We've gone through enough already with the magistrates court, boy racers and all the work carried out for the Asda development around the corner.

"We have had enough especially with the anti-social behaviour outside the magistrates court.

Blackwood councillor Kevin Etheridge said afterwards: "These proposals pose a major concern for residents of Hall Street, William Street and the surrounding area because there are fears this court will not have sufficient parking spaces and that the road will be unable to cope with the extra traffic generated.

"In fact, the people are 100% against it because it is simply not in the right place.

"This court will serve the whole of Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly county borough so to build it on that site would be folly of the highest order."

Blackwood councillor Nigel Dix said: "The people are not over the moon at the moment because as far as they are concerned they have already got one court and now they are going to have another at the end of the road.

"People are worried about parking but it was a good meeting in the sense that everybody now knows what is being proposed."

A spokesman for the Department for Constitutional Affairs was unavailable for comment.