THE Welsh Government's M4 relief road plans will have an "irreversible effect" on Magor, with one resident set to lose his livelihood.

All of the land surrounding Llewellyn Pritchard's home at The Beeches Farm is set to be compulsory purchased in preparation for the plans going ahead.

While his home and the caravan park he lets out will remain untouched, his business will be severely affected by the relief road.

Mr Pritchard has close ties with the Gwent Wildlife Trust and transports both hay and cattle to and from his farm to the grazing areas of the Magor Marsh reserve.

However the development will encroach onto his barn as well as taking the road leading into his property and his garden.

"They keep changing their minds about this road," said Mr Pritchard.

"When they get rid of the road coming into my property I'm going to be completely cut off.

"What can I do? How can I live here?"

There are two houses on the site which have both been in Mr Pritchard's family for more than five generations.

Mr Pritchard lives in one and the other, which he no longer owns, will be compulsory purchased.

According to Mr Pritchard, the property was used as munitions storage by the Home Guard during the Second World War.

During the conflict, some of the fields that will be used for the relief road, contained trenches that were built pending a German invasion of Britain.

Mr Pritchard said: "There's so much history in the house and they want to take it away.

"I'm very distressed."

Barecroft House, the home of Alan Ludlow and his wife, and surrounding grazing field on the Marsh will also be compulsory purchased.

The couple have lived at the house for 16 years but rent it from the Welsh Government.

He said: "We knew something like this would happen when we came here.

"It's been talked about for some time but now it looks like it's going to happen."

Another property that has been completely purchased is the Grade II-listed building, Woodland House.

The former Victorian vicarage is in close proximity of the nearby Magor Services, which is also set to be affected by the road.

Roadchef, who own the services, believe the relief road would render the services as "commercially unviable."

Last month the Trust at Magor Marsh received a compulsory purchase order from the Welsh Government for parts of the reserve.

Along the Gwent Levels, the trust says hundreds of species of wildlife will be in jeopardy if the proposed Black Route goes ahead.

Several miles of marshland, woodland, reens, ditches and hay meadows would be lost to the new road, the trust claims.

Richard Baker, the Marsh's reserves officer, derided the plans as undoing a lot of the Trust's work over the years.

"I'll be deeply upset if the relief road happens," said Mr Bakere.

"These areas are irreplaceable, you can't just move them from one point and recreate them somewhere else in five or ten years."

According to Mr Bakere, the black route would carve through wildlife communities causing severe fragmentation.

"A lot of the marshes here are unsuitable to build on, with just a skin of vegetation on the surface.

"The increased volume of activity would cause irreversible damage," he added.

At a talk held at the Marsh's education centre, the Trust's chief executive Ian Rappel lamented the purchase orders.

"It's very much the case that people take the landscape around them for granted," said Mr Rappel.

"This is a 1960s solution, they're spending a huge proportion of their budget just for the sake of saving people a few minutes on the motorway."

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “The case for an M4 relief road is clear - the black route would significantly improve transport links and could bring commercial benefits.

"This route is the best solution to the transport issues around Newport taking into account all environmental, social and economic considerations.