RESIDENTS in a Gwent hamlet fear a road death unless action is taken to slow traffic. The problem through Maesygwartha, Gilwern, is being caused by traffic taking a detour to avoid long delays on the Heads of the Valleys Road where resurfacing work is expected to take 16 weeks.

Fay Bosley, of Old Rectory Close, Maesygwartha, said: "Drivers are using our road as a short cut and there is no speed limit and no pavement.

"Mothers cannot walk their children to school and pensioners are afraid to take their daily walk. People are prisoners in their own homes.

"We are collecting signatures on a petition which will go to the National Assembly and Monmouthshire county council, strongly protesting about the traffic and asking for action to be taken before someone is seriously injured or killed."

David Harris, highways chief with the council, said last week they placed temporary traffic lights on the road known as Doctor's Pitch to discourage drivers from using it as a short cut. He said the road through the hamlet is an old tram road not designed for heavy traffic. Young mother Michelle Hatch, of Ty Derwen, Maesygwartha, said she was now taking her three children to Gilwern Primary School by car.

"I should walk them there, but there is no way I would do that at the moment. " It's like being on the M25, and I know because I come from London. "We cannot walk the dog so we have to drive to the car park by the canal to exercise him."

Another mum, Tracey Miles, of Ivy Cottages, said: "This road is horrendous at the moment. It has never been this bad in the six years I've lived here.

"Sometimes I walk my six-year-old daughter to school but there is no way I can do that at the moment."