MORE than £4 million is set to be spent on highway maintenance across the borough of Neath Port Talbot in the coming year.
The decision was made at a council cabinet meeting held in April, as part of the authority’s highway’s works programme for the 2025-26 financial year.
Members at the meeting unanimously approved the latest programme worth a total of £4.964 million, which will now be used to cover all aspects of highway maintenance and capital investment in the borough.
Officers said the approval came after a lengthy scrutiny session that took place to look at which schemes would be delivered and which didn’t make the cut, though noted that there was a general support for the plans.
They added that they had been “fortunate” this year as they had been able to use Welsh Government supported borrowing that allowed the council to prioritise further schemes for investment.
Some of the spends will now include £1.3 million on strengthening and improvement works to local bridges and structures, £495,000 on drainage improvement works, and more than £2 million on carriageway surface treatments.
The report added: “Distributing available budgets is highly challenging due to the level of investment required to maintain a ‘steady state’. Currently, the shortfall in available budgets has increased due to static investment in the core allocation for the Highways and Engineering Works Programme, coupled with the continuing rise in inflationary pressures. Meanwhile, the need for preventative and essential maintenance of the infrastructure continues to grow.”
