The ‘perfect storm’ forecast last month in this newspaper by one of Monmouth’s top traders, has begun.

On Tuesday, 3-way traffic lights were set up at the junction of Wonastow Road, Rockfield Road and Cinderhill Street which will, from Wednesday, add to the misery for motorists who will then have to negotiate Monnow Street’s one-way system.

As traffic will only be allowed to travel down the town, northbound motorists wanting to access Monnow Street further than the bus station will have to enter at either Wyebridge Street, where there are more traffic lights, or through Dixton Road.

The Beacon has seen an email by Monmouthshire County Council’s Mark Hand, Head of Placemaking, Regeneration, Highways and Flooding saying “colleagues checked the coordination of these works with known road works including Welsh Water’s works and are happy they can co-exist without causing undue disruption”.

However National Grid had begun work on Monday, the previous day, to replace the substation at the junction of Rolls Avenue and Rockfield Road with three-way traffic lights in operation there.

The Beacon spoke to the Balfour Beatty crew who said the work to replace the substation and electricity cables is due to last for a week, ending Tuesday 6th February.

Further inconvenience has been the loss of car parking spaces at the free car park on Rockfield Road for the 12 weeks that MCC say the Wonastow/ Rockfield Road works will take to complete.

Andy Tabb of Monmouth’s rugby club said there were “many complaints from supporters to the Sports Ground last Saturday.

Comments such as “where in the hell do you park in this town“ saw some supporters having to park at the leisure centre and others finding nowhere to park.

Andy added that supporters and even game officials were driving around looking for spaces.

“This is the worst it has ever been”.

Cllr Jane Lucas who asked questions at MCC’s council meeting about the amount of roadworks happening all at once told the Beacon that “yet again we see our wonderful town under threat from continual disruption, ill thought out infrastructure development and a complete failure to listen to local residents.

“Of course we all want to walk and cycle more, but councillors need to recognise that the car is part of everyday life and removing free on-street parking on Cinderhill Street is just going to encourage more parking in residential streets, and to make it worse the removal of some free parking spaces for road work vehicles at the skate park, and by sports ground!

“Residents have not been sufficiently consulted about this scheme and the timing could not be worse – coinciding with the one way system on Monnow Street, bringing the town to a standstill.

“I’m really worried that the timing of these works could cause chaos in the town and discourage shoppers from spending time in Monmouth. I strongly urged the Cabinet Member [Cllr Catrin Maby] to reconsider, but my concerns fell on deaf ears.”

We asked MCC how many car park spaces were lost on the Rockfield Road car park to the workmen on the Wonastow Road project. A spokesman replied: “This car park does not have individually marked bays, so I am unable to give an exact number. The area I have sectioned off is approx. 28m x 15m. this would be around 15 – 18 standard parking bays.

“This work is programmed for 12 weeks”.