Member Article

Cabinet secretary visits Jones Bros’ project to halt flooding of Tal-y-Bont village

Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths has visited a project at Tal-y-Bont near Bangor in North Wales to see the work being carried out by leading civil engineers Jones Bros to prevent flooding in the area.

The project, which has been designed and supervised by Gwynedd Council’s Ymgynghoriaeth Gwynedd Consultancy (YGC) department, will also alleviate flooding of the A55 dual carriageway that serves the North Wales coast and Anglesey.

During her visit the Cabinet Secretary met with Jones Bros’ chairman Huw Jones, as she announced almost £4million grant funding for flood alleviation schemes across North Wales including almost £1 million to protect the village of Tal-y-Bont and the A55.

The drainage work involves diverting excess floodwater from land surrounding the A55 safely into the Afon Ogwen river.

Ruthin-based Jones Bros Civil Engineering UK is constructing 700m of earth bunds, ditches and culverts. This will divert floodwater during heavy rainfall from its current course into the Afon Ogwen and will require piping under minor county roads at three locations.

The project comes after sections of the village of Tal-y-Bont and the A55 were closed after becoming flooded during heavy rainfall, the most recent incident occurring in December last year.

Cabinet Secretary Lesley Griffiths said: “Flooding is an important issue for Wales and one which we take very seriously. I am pleased we have been able to support the community of Tal-y-Bont following the damaging effects of the winter’s storms and take action quickly to get work underway to better protect the community and the important A55 road ahead of this winter.”

Hefin Lloyd-Davies, Jones Bros’ regional manager for North Wales, who is overseeing the 20-week project, said: “There have been problems with flooding in this area which this project will aim to alleviate.

“There is a bottle neck in the area where two water courses meet and this has caused some of the problems in the surrounding areas and roads which become flooded during heavy rainfall.

“The project includes us installing 200 metres of buried pipe to redirect the water into the main river Ogwen. We are also constructing a temporary road to avoid disruption to the local bus service.”

Councillor John Wynn Jones, Gwynedd Council Cabinet Member, said: “I was delighted to visit the site recently with local member Councillor Dafydd Meurig who has been eager to see work being carried out on this major engineering project.

“Gwynedd Council has designed the scheme and our officers are also supervising the work and we are pleased that work is progressing well on what is a much-needed project for the area.”

Family firm Jones Bros has developed considerable expertise in managing and carrying out flood projects, including an award-winning scheme to shore up the sea defences at seaside resort Tywyn in North Wales.

Founded in the 1950s and employing approximately 350 people, Ruthin-based Jones Bros has grown rapidly in the last decade. It is currently working on contracts in various sectors including the construction of waste management facilities, highways, flood and marine defence and renewable energy projects around the UK.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Harris .