Family left with no neighbours as council demolishes street over landslide risk

Ross McGuinness
Updated ·4 min read
A defiant family has been left with no neighbours after refusing to move from a demolished street. Mum-of-one Sophie Kendall, 28, grew up in the home that sits in the middle of a terraced row of houses. Work has begun to demolish the street after the houses were deemed at risk of a landslip in 2017. Sophie and her family say they have had no offers from the council since their insurers have that their home is safe. Pictured here is Sophie Kendall who lives in the house with daughter Jorgie-May, four, and stepdad Richard Morrison. WALES NEWS SERVICE
Sophie Kendall, left, her daughter Jorgie-May and stepfather Richard Morrison on their street in Cyfyng Road, Ystalyfera. (Wales News)

A family has refused to move out of a street threatened by a landslide even though all the other houses are being demolished.

Sophie Kendall, 28, lives in the only remaining occupied house in the terrace on Cyfyng Road in the village of Ystalyfera, Neath Port Talbot, Wales.

The area was first hit by a landslide in 2012 and has experienced several more in the years that have followed.

Kendall continues to live in the house with her four-year-old daughter, Jorgie-May, and her stepfather, Richard Morrison.

She insists insurers say her home is safe despite her neighbours moving out and the council starting to demolish their houses.

They are remaining in the house even though the road is blocked off and there is rubble in the street from demolished homes.

A defiant family has been left with no neighbours after refusing to move from a demolished street. Mum-of-one Sophie Kendall, 28, grew up in the home that sits in the middle of a terraced row of houses. Work has begun to demolish the street after the houses were deemed at risk of a landslip in 2017. Sophie and her family say they have had no offers from the council since their insurers have that their home is safe. WALES NEWS SERVICE
The family refused to leave their home, inside the red line, while all the other houses are demolished. (Wales News)
A defiant family has been left with no neighbours after refusing to move from a demolished street. Mum-of-one Sophie Kendall, 28, grew up in the home that sits in the middle of a terraced row of houses. Work has begun to demolish the street after the houses were deemed at risk of a landslip in 2017. Sophie and her family say they have had no offers from the council since their insurers have that their home is safe. WALES NEWS SERVICE
A house two doors away from the family is being demolished. (Wales News)

"We are not moving because this is our home," said Kendall.

"I've only ever really lived here. I've got all my memories from birthdays and Christmas in this house. It means a lot to us."

"They have taken everything down to one side of our house and then they are going to start at the other end.

"We didn't have a clue that the demolition was starting. My four-year-old daughter has asthma and there is dust everywhere."

'We are still in limbo'

Some residents were evacuated in 2017 after landslides above the street.

"There was a landslide to the rear of the gardens six years ago but the houses were not affected," said Kendall.

"The insurers won't pay anything because there is not actually any damage to the house and the council hasn't offered us anywhere to go."

Morrison, who has lived on the street for 23 years, said: "We are still in limbo, as we have been for the last six or seven years. With no offer on the table it's just impossible to move."

Morrison was fined £100 in 2019 for breaching a council order given to residents to vacate their homes after one of the landslides in 2017.

A defiant family has been left with no neighbours after refusing to move from a demolished street. Mum-of-one Sophie Kendall, 28, grew up in the home that sits in the middle of a terraced row of houses. Work has begun to demolish the street after the houses were deemed at risk of a landslip in 2017. Sophie and her family say they have had no offers from the council since their insurers have that their home is safe. WALES NEWS SERVICE
Houses on Cyfyng Road, Ystalyfera, Wales, are being demolished because of a landslide risk. (Wales News)

But he said: "The insurance company have deemed it fine. They said it was the grounds to the rear that's the issue, but the house is fine.

"We've had six risk assessments of the house and they've all come back clear. That's going against the one risk assessment that Neath Port Talbot did six or seven years ago."

A geological survey of the area has warned there is a very high risk of more landslides in the area and an "immediate risk to life" on Cyfyng Road.

Neath Port Talbot council is carrying out a phased demolition programme on all of the empty homes.

A spokesman for the council said: "The demolition orders in Cyfyng Road are being carried out for reasons of public safety.

"The houses concerned, built on a slope, were affected by landslides in 2017 and after the council evacuated occupiers for their own safety, the owner and occupiers of three of the properties appealed against the action to the independent Residential Property Tribunal Wales.

The council said it had worked with residents to help with rehousing and insurance claims.

A defiant family has been left with no neighbours after refusing to move from a demolished street. Mum-of-one Sophie Kendall, 28, grew up in the home that sits in the middle of a terraced row of houses. Work has begun to demolish the street after the houses were deemed at risk of a landslip in 2017. Sophie and her family say they have had no offers from the council since their insurers have that their home is safe. Pictured here is Sophie Kendall who lives in the house with daughter Jorgie-May, four, and stepdad Richard Morrison. WALES NEWS SERVICE
The family watch as a digger takes up the street in Cyfyng Road, Ystalyfera, Neath Port Talbot. (Wales News)

What happened in the Neath Port Talbot landslides?

The Swansea Valley has seen a number of landslips in recent years around the village of Ystalyfera.

In 2012, thousands of tonnes of soil, rock and trees slipped down the side of the hill behind the houses on Cyfyng Road.

A number of families were evacuated from their homes while the site was cleared of debris.

There were further landslides on the road in 2017, with residents from 10 homes ordered to leave because of an imminent risk of a landslip in August of that year.

In 2018, a landslide along Cymmer Road in the village of Glyncorrwg, nine miles away from Ystalyfera, saw 80 tonnes of debris fall into the road.

What is the red zone of a landslide area?

A map depicting the level of risk to residential property along Cyfyng Road in Ystalyfera was produced by Cardiff-based geologists the Earth Science Partnership in January 2018.

It shows a number of colour coded risk levels to residential buildings.

Those in the red zone are at "very high" risk, meaning there is an annual probability of more than 1 in a 1,000 that someone living there could lose their life.

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