Newport City Council has announced a £6.6 million investment in its road network.

The council aims to improve the city’s road network over the coming year, focusing on the most vital and high-priority roads.

It has secured more than £4.4 million from the Welsh Government through the new highway management local government borrowing initiative.

It will also allocate around £2.2 million of its own resources, including £1 million from last year’s underspend, to this major road maintenance programme.

This investment is in addition to the council’s regular yearly budget for road repairs.

Councillor Dimitri Batrouni, leader of the council, said: “We promised more investment into our road network, and I’m pleased to say we are delivering on that promise.

“Councillors from every ward have been sharing residents’ concerns about roads with us. We’ve heard those concerns, and we get it.

“This funding from Welsh government will allow us to go above and beyond what we would be able to do on our own, tackling more of our highway network’s problem areas.

The programme will have two elements running concurrently: full resurfacing work on the highest priority roads and surface treatments for high-priority roads to preserve the highway asset.

The council proposes to work on 55 sections of road, 36 requiring full resurfacing and 19 needing surface treatments.

It will also undertake further detailed design work for the programme to determine a full schedule before work starts later this summer.

Residents, businesses, and visitors will be kept informed of the programme’s progress through the council’s website and social media channels.

Acknowledging that the level of investment would not solve all issues, Mr Batrouni added: “At the same time, it is not going to solve every problem and fix every pothole, as we can only do so much with the resources we have.

“It is, however, a really good programme of works which I do feel will make a big difference.”

PIC-NEWPORT CC