Neath Port Talbot Council Cabinet members have approved a wide ranging £3.23m programme of improvements, repairs and maintenance to footpaths, roads, bridges and drainage in all parts of the county borough.

The council’s Environment, Regeneration and Streetcare Services Cabinet Board approved the comprehensive programme at its meeting on March 3rd, 2023.

The proposed package of works is contained in the council’s Highways and Engineering Works Programme for the forthcoming financial year (2023/24).

The programme will involve:

• Bridge Strengthening (£300,000).
• Drainage (£300,000).
• Carriageway Resurfacing (£1,115,000).
• Carriageway Micro Surfacing (£70,000).
• Carriageway Surface Dressing (£260,000).
• Other Highways Maintenance (£255,000).
• Jet Patching (£120,000).
• Footway Resurfacing (£167,000).
• Footway Slurry Sealing (£34,000).
• Minor works: Traffic, Signs, Barriers & Traffic Regulation Orders (£425,000)
• + Contract uplifts/inflation etc. on maintenance contracts associated with the above (£174,000)

The funding for the work comes from a variety of sources including the council’s Highways and Engineering Capital Allocation, Planned Maintenance Revenue Funding, Neighbourhood Improvements Capital Allocation.

Also some of the money, including £800,000 for surfacing work in valley areas, will come from the £4.25m of additional funding approved in the summer of last year by the council’s Rainbow Coalition Cabinet to ‘clean up and green up’ Neath Port Talbot’s towns, valleys and villages to aid recovery from the Covid-19 epidemic.

Cllr Scott Jones, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Streetscene, said: “One of the early priorities of the council’s Rainbow Coalition was to clean up the public realm and this programme of works – across all our communities – will certainly help with that.

“As well as making our towns, valleys and village look better the programme will providing a safe and resilient road and footpath network.”