A TRELLECH landlord has been left despairing at the third year of road closures around his pub.

Forge Road, leading to Trellech Grange and the Fountain Inn, has been closed since last Monday (2nd March), and could remain shut until the end of the month (29th March).

The roadworks mark three years of closures on the road, culminating in around 15 months of disruption for residents and businesses.

Steve Pocock, landlord of the Fountain Inn, said: "This is leading up to the first busy weekend of the year for us and we could lose thousands if the road is not open again by Easter.

"I do understand that the road has got to be re-surfaced, but the signage isn't adequate and we're not getting enough help from the council.

"Last weekend, we were told that one 'road closed' sign was left up all weekend, even though the road was open.

"Our business has suffered enough as it is, and now we have people not being able to get through to us again, or getting out of the habit of visiting us.

"This was scheduled re-surfacing, but why could no one have thought to do it last year when the road was shut for five months anyway?

"It's like I'm banging my head against a brick wall."

Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) have permission to close the road until the end of this month, but do predict that works will be finished and the road reopened by the end of this week.

A spokesperson for the council said: "The current works to resurface Forge Road are planned works and have been coordinated and advertised in the correct manner. The road has been closed under an official road traffic order and all affected properties adjoining the road have been notified of the extent of the closure and directed to alternative routes while works are in progress.  The road closure is in place from Monday to Friday between 9:00am and 3:30pm and  works are expected to be completed within 10 working days.

"The council is currently looking to provide advisory signs to inform travellers that the inn is operating as usual.  While the Fountain Inn cannot be accessed directly from Tintern there are a number of alternative routes unaffected by the road closure. The road is not closed at the Fountain Inn itself.

"The council apologises for the inconvenience caused by these roadworks but, when completed, the route from Tintern to Cobblers Plain will be upgraded to a good standard and will benefit the community and visitors for years to come.

"Forge Road, Tintern has been affected by a number of unrelated problems over the past two years.

"The collapse of a retaining wall and embankment into the adjacent stream left the road in a dangerous condition and forced its immediate unplanned closure. This lasted for approximately nine months while structural issues were assessed and a solution was designed. The reconstruction of the retaining wall and embankment took a further two months.

"The second problem resulted from the partial collapse of a culvert which resulted in a further three month road closure.

"Both these projects resulted from emergency works to failures following a long period of unprecedented rainfall  and could not have been predicted."