EBBW Vale's cable car is to close, eight years after it was opened.
The lift cost £2.3 million to build and £52,000 a year to run - but has been plagued with breakdowns since it opened in 2015 – having broken down 252 times in its first two years alone.
The closure is one of a series of cuts being made by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, which said it is facing a “range of financial pressures.”
A council spokesperson said: “Blaenau Gwent Council has been open and transparent about the financial challenges it is facing, and like all councils has had to make some tough decisions about services.
The Ebbw Vale Cableway opened in 2015
“Our Welsh Government settlement was significantly below the Welsh average, and we are facing a range of financial pressures as a result of the global pandemic, rising inflation, soaring energy and fuel costs and social care demands.
“Our funding gap for this year’s budget was £7.2 million.
“A series of savings proposals, financial efficiencies and income generating projects were put together, and all these were outlined to residents and stakeholders in an online survey and at face-to-face engagement events.
“Within this survey, 60 per cent of residents said the closure of the Cableway was very acceptable, acceptable or were neutral.
“The budget was set by the full council in February. The closure of the Cableway was one of the savings proposals accepted by councillors.”
Welsh Conservative shadow minister for transport, Natasha Asghar said she is concerned that the site will become a “centre for vandalism and anti-social behaviour.”
Ms Asghar said: “Many people questioned the point of the lift in the first place and we now know that is has proven to be a costly and unreliable service.
“Whilst it may have encouraged more people to walk, surely steps and a more basic lift would have done the same job with less hassle.
“There is concern now that the cable car site will just remain empty and unused becoming a centre for vandalism and anti-social behaviour.”
The Ebbw Vale Cableway was a European-funded project as part of Blaenau Gwent Council's town regeneration project for Ebbw Vale.
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