A HOMEOWNER has plastered a wall of his house with the words ‘Welcome to Hell’, which will now greet passengers to the new multi-million-pound station at Bow Street, after saying the development has “destroyed” his quality of life.

Hefin Jones lives at Werndeg, a detached home that used to back on to green fields but is now a close neighbour to a railway platform, car park, bus stop, an electricity sub-station and cycle racks, since the project was completed.

Mr Jones has railed against the plans since they were announced, and similarly daubed his property 18 months ago as work began.

As the first train rolled into the station to much fanfare from transport chiefs, politicians and councillors last weekend, Mr Jones’ home was daubed with the message “Welcome to Hell”.

He told the Cambrian News that his life had become “hell” with the station completed, and wanted to send a message to authorities over having a station just around 60m from his home.

“It is hell,” Mr Jones said.

“At 5.15am the first train comes in and wakes me up with the beep beep of the doors and the engines.

“I may as well be sleeping on the platform. I will have to live with this station on my doorstep for the foreseeable future, but it has destroyed what is supposed to be a family home.”

After preliminary work began in November 2019, a frustrated Mr Jones painted a sign on a wall near the site in big letters saying ‘NO STATION’.

Mr Jones, who bought the property eight years ago, told the Cambrian News at the time that “there’s nothing I can do about it, it’s happening, but I guess I wanted to embarrass them a bit”.

Mr Jones said a public footpath now surrounds his home, with a car park right next to the garden, “totally impinging on my family’s privacy”.

Mr Jones said he had renovated the house but fears “no-one will buy it as family home now”.

The Bow Street scheme was granted planning permission by Ceredigion County Council in September 2019 after delays, while the design was tweaked over flooding and access fears.

After 18 months of work at the site, with delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the first train stopped at the new Bow Street station last weekend.A spokesperson for Transport for Wales said: “We're really proud to have opened Bow Street station and have welcomed the overwhelmingly positive response from the local community.“TfW staff and partner agencies working on the development have engaged with Mr Jones throughout the project."As a result of these discussions and as a gesture of goodwill, TfW has undertaken several areas of work to Mr Jones’ property.“Our community engagement team remain available to Mr Jones to talk about any further concerns he may have following the opening of the station this month.“Bow Street station will benefit the local community by reducing congestion and parking issues in the area, having first been identified in 2010 as an opportunity offering value for money and with strong local support."