A VALLEYS council did not have to pay out anything in highways insurance claims last year.
In 2023-24, Merthyr Tydfil Council received 13 highway insurance claims but all were rejected resulting in no cost to the council.
During last year a total of 2,788 highways inspections were carried out on the adopted highway, which is an increase of 153 inspections when compared to 2022-23 and is due to the increase in the number of roads adopted in 2023-24.
Council figures for 2023-24 also show that all inspections were completed within service standard timescales as they were the previous year.
The report said that failure to complete the highways inspections within the relevant time scales could potentially lead to the council paying out on third-party claims.
In 2023-24 there were 35 fewer customer complaints received when compared to 2022-23 but the number of complaints completed have marginally fallen due to the increase of complaints from vegetation obstruction.
The report said this can take more time to complete due to ecology issues, locating of land ownership, and the issuing of letters together with serving notices and arranging works to be carried out.
In 2023-24, 1,781 street works site inspections were carried out which generated a total of £170,866 in income, an extra £63,951.50 compared to 2022-23, and the report said this is invested back into the service.
There was 4.49km of resurfacing works completed in 2023-24 with 1.21 km of micro-asphalt surfacing and 3.84km of footways renewed.
But the report said the highways network was now starting to see a managed decline in the state of the road network adding that 10 years ago the council was carrying out approximately 12km of highway treatments, which has now halved to 6km of treatments being completed in 2023-24.
The report also contains figures for the previous year (2022-23) when there were 12 highways insurance claims and again all were rejected meaning no claims had to be paid out.
During that year a total of 2,635 highways inspections were done of the adopted highway which is an increase of 32 inspections when compared to the previous year due to the number of roads adopted in 2021-22.
In 2022-23 there were an extra 69 customer complaints received with 84% of the 2,262 highways customer care complaints received being completed on time within five working days, a decline of 2% compared to 2021-22.
In 2022-23 1,971 streetworks site inspections were carried out, which generated a total of £106,914.50 in income.
There were 2.68km of resurfacing works completed in 2022-23 and 1.92km of micro-asphalt surfacing done and 2.29km of footways renewed.
The figures come from a report going before the council’s neighbourhood services, countryside, and planning scrutiny committee on Monday, October 21.
