Agenda item

To consider the report of the Head of Community Services.

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Community Services.

The Head of Community Services spoke to the report which provided an updated position and progress on the capital programme 2017/2021 and presented options for the 2021/22 work programme.  He explained that to date £4.4m had been made available through Welsh Government grants and prudential borrowing to provide improvements to the highway network and the focus of these works for the last 3 years had been on the residential highways which made up 74% of the network.

The overall percentage of poor conditioned un-classified roads pre-commencement of works was 17%.  As a result of the previous three years this figure had been maintained at 11.4%.  To date 82 residential highways had been resurfaced along with priority works to the A & B classified roads.

£602,000 was currently available in the capital programme 2021/22 and it was intended to concentrate on the worst condition residential highways in each ward.  Another option along with roads in each ward, was to look at priority A & B roads at a total cost of £912,000 which would leave a shortfall of £310,000.  It was noted that the current level of the capital programme contingency fund was £1.26m and if this additional funding was agreed, this would reduce the contingency to £950,000.

The Head of Community Services concluded by stating that the preferred option was Option 2.

A Member asked whether Councillor’s recommendations would be considered as part of the process because he had made previous recommendations to the department which had not been acknowledged.

The Head of Community Services said he could only apologise if this had been the case and confirmed that whilst the policy had been adopted, if Members had specific concerns these were considered and the matrix re-evaluated in line with those concerns.  To date this had happened on several occasions and he undertook to pursue the specific concern raised by the Member and contact him following the meeting.

Another Member expressed his concern regarding the physical size of certain wards and pointed out that Sirhowy Ward was the largest ward in the County Borough and required more than one road being addressed.  However, he felt that some smaller wards were given priority and requested that the process be reviewed going forward.

The Leader of the Labour Group said that ward Councillors had made representations and received confirmation that a change had been made but the current schedule did not reflect this and sought clarification whether this would be changed.  The Head of Community Services confirmed that the schedule would be amended to reflect the agreed change.

It was unanimously,

RESOLVED, subject to the foregoing, that the report be accepted and Option 2 be endorsed, namely:

Option 2: As Option 1 (Highest Priority Residential Road in each Ward [16 total] & Blaenant Industrial Estate Road – Estimated Total Cost £602,000) plus A & B Priority Roads & Highway Safety Works – Estimated Total Cost £912,000

A & B Priority Roads:

o   A4048 Heathfield Full Reconstruction Works

o   A4046 Cwm Bypass Resurfacing

Highway Safety Traffic Management Works:

o   Crash Barrier Replacement at A4281 Garnlydan

Crash Barrier Replacement at A467 Abertillery