Pest Control in Cwmbran

Cwmbran was built as a new town in the 1950s in the Afon Lwyd valley and its planned layout of housing estates, green spaces and a central shopping district creates a particular pattern of pest activity. The estates at Llanyravon, Greenmeadow, Fairwater and Thornhill were built with cavity wall construction and flat or low-pitched roofs and both features give mice and wasps easy access to the spaces inside. Mice get in through air bricks and around pipe runs and once inside the cavity walls they can travel from room to room without being seen. We get calls from across these estates year-round, but the numbers jump from October as the cold drives mice indoors.

The Afon Lwyd river and the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal both run through Cwmbran and these waterways are a constant source of rat problems for the properties nearby. The canal towpath and the green strips alongside the river are popular walking routes but they also give rats cover to move right through the middle of town. The estates at Llantarnam and Pontnewydd that border these waterways see the most rat activity, with animals moving between the banks and back gardens. The Cwmbran Boating Lake and the ponds at Llanyravon also attract rats.

The town centre around Cwmbran Shopping is a large covered retail area with service yards and loading bays that need careful pest management to keep on top of rodent activity. The flat roofs of the commercial buildings can attract nesting gulls and the food courts and restaurants generate waste that draws rats if not managed properly. Wasp nests are common across the town through summer, turning up in the roof spaces and wall cavities of the estate houses and in the outbuildings and garages that are a feature of many properties. The green buffer zones that were built into the new town design are good for residents but they also create wildlife corridors that bring pests close to homes.