DRIVERS using Gwent's main road link to the Midlands face delays when major resurfacing works get under way.

But the decision by the National Assembly to use surfacing materials with noise-reducing properties has been welcomed by campaigners who have fought for this decision for the past ten years.

The work to reconstruct the A40 and the A449 between Monmouth and Usk will start in January and is expected to take 20 months to complete. The work will cost about £750,000. Residents of Llandenny and Kingcoed have battled for a quieter surface on the A449 dual carriageway.

And in a letter to the campaigners from Sue Essex, the environmental minister at the National Assembly, said: "This work should significantly reduce traffic noise emanating from the road surface in this area, and benefit those who live adjacent to the trunk road."

The residents first enlisted the help of Monmouth MP Huw Edwards who backed their cause a decade ago and was with them when the news was announced.

Mr Edwards said: "This has been a long campaign for measures to reduce the noise from the A449 which people living close to the dual carriageway find intolerable. The noise is a constant problem in the village of Llandenny and the surrounding area and has affected some people quite seriously."

Campaigner Dennis Majer said: "It is good news for the area, we've campaigned hard to achieve this decision and we can look forward to the day when the noise level will drop." Another campaigner, Geoffrey Williams, added that other measures, such as planting trees along the route, should be taken to complement the resurfacing work.

Local WI chairman Fay Mansell agreed, but added: "We are cautiously mindful of the decision because we have been let down before over previous claims that the work is to be done."

During the ten-year campaign Mr Edwards has met residents on both sides of the A449 dual carriageway and attended a packed public meeting at the village hall. Mr Edwards is now contacting everyone who wrote to him about the noise problem on the A449 with the good news that their campaign has been successful.

*PICTURED: Monmouth MP Huw Edwards with some of the campaigners.