Extra Funding to be Used for Road Maintenance in Blaenau Gwent as Councillors Seek Input on Allocation

EXTRA funding will be used to maintain the roads in Blaenau Gwent and councillors hope they will be given a say on where it will be used.
At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council on Thursday, September 21, councillors discussed the Highways Asset Management Plan (HAMP) for the next five years.
The item was discussed by councillors straight after discussion of the council’s building programme, where allocating an extra £500,000 for highway maintenance was agreed by councillors.
The report notes that the annual revenue maintenance budget for highways assets – which includes roads, bridges, walls, culverts, street lighting and even a tunnel – is just under £2.7 million for this financial year.
The report also says that £1.2 million worth of maintenance work is needed as a “priority.”
Deputy council leader and portfolio holder for environment Labour’s Cllr Helen Cunningham said: “The purpose of this report is to formally adopt our Highways Asset Management Plan from 2023 to 2028.
“It describes how the council will maintain the road. network under its control and the procedure used to plan and execute including how they are monitored.
“We will ensure that all assets continue to deliver a service to the community and highway users at the agreed level.”
Opposition and Independent group leader Cllr Joanna Wilkins said that the money allocated to highways “should be higher.”
Deputy Independent group leader, Cllr Wayne Hodgins added that the highways “have been left to go for long enough.”
In recent years all councillors have been allowed to have their say on which roads in each wards should be fixed.
This would be extra work on top of routine highways routine maintenance and would include filling in potholes and patching up parts of the roads in the county borough.
Cllr Hodgins asked if this would again be the case.
“We’ve always been beating the drum on this one,” he said.
“I certainly thinks we’ve never had a better opportunity to invest to bring them (roads) up to standard.”
“I want all wards to benefit across the borough.
“A ward-by-ward discussion is the transparent way.”
Council leader, Labour’s Cllr Steve Thomas, said discussion would be needed around where the works take place as the state of some roads have: “deteriorated more in the short term” than others.
Cllr Thomas: “It has to be fair and in fairness I thought it went well last time.”
Councillors then voted unanimously to agree the HAMP. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​