<-- Project Impacts - Environmental 

The railway passes through an urban and rural landscape with attractive views of the wooded sides of the valley and River Ebbw – in fact, for much of its length the railway line runs alongside or close to the river.

Although formerly industrial in character, the valley has been visually transformed over the last 30 years as former heavy industrial sites have been regenerated by initiatives such as the Ebbw Vale Garden Festival of 1992. The Garden Festival site, formerly the steel producing part of Ebbw Vale Steelworks,  is now an attractive area of housing surrounded by lakes and parkland.

The requirement to undertake an environmental assessment for the proposed Ebbw Valley Railway Stations was identified as part of the planning process.

The environmental assessments undertaken for each of the stations included an assessment of air quality; cultural heritage; ecology and nature conservation; landscape and land use; traffic; noise and vibration; pedestrians, cyclists and community effects; watercourses and drainage; geology and soils; disruption during construction; and policies and plans.

No significant environmental constraints were found. However, there is Japanese knotweed in existence on some station sites. This will be treated in accordance with the appropriate legislation. In addition, there will be some construction impacts associated with the construction of the new stations along the route.

Large scale construction works on the track will not be required because the track bed is still in situ. The key environmental impacts will be associated with the increase in noise levels and emissions affecting the air quality.

A mitigation strategy has been developed to ameliorate any adverse effects on the environment. Where possible, measures are designed into the scheme, rather than being tacked on at the end. A Code of Construction Practice has been developed. The purpose of the Code is to set out the environmental criteria under which the works will be carried out, the relevant environmental legislation and prevailing standards of best practice. The Code establishes a series of objectives and measures to be applied generally throughout the construction period to maintain satisfactory levels of environmental protection and to limit disturbance from construction activities.