By Anthony Lewis
Copyright walesonline
An extra £11.5m will be spent on areas like roads, schools, and parks in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT). As part of RCT Council’s investment priorities, cabinet, and full council both agreed to the extra spend at meetings on Monday, September 22, and Wednesday, September 24, respectively and it will see £2.5m going on highways and roads which the council says will “continue to support the enhanced investment in the council’s largest asset, building on sustained increases in annual funding for highways capital maintenance over recent years ”. There will be £3m for the Llanharan Sustainable Transport Corridor and £2m for the Cynon Gateway North transit corridor. The council says it continues to work closely with Welsh Government and Transport for Wales to review the Llanharan Sustainable Transport Corridor and Cynon Gateway North Transit Corridor, which were paused under the Welsh Government’s roads review. The council says significant transport challenges remain at both locations, which will increase with planned infrastructure and housing developments. This funding will “support progression through design and planning stages, including redesigns to incorporate active travel and public transport solutions, enabling sustainable growth and economic activity,” the council says. The funding includes £3m for Sustainable Communities for Learning investment. The council report says it will enable the next tranche of projects to move forward through planning and design, reaching full business case stage to secure Welsh Government funding as part of the council’s match funding commitment to the programme. There will be £100,000 for the Making Better Use scheme and traffic developments which will allow the continuation of the programme of tackling congestion, pinch points, and improving road safety by using existing road space to provide additional capacity The funding includes £250,000 for flood alleviation works which includes small scale works on land drainage and flood alleviation schemes. Country parks get £150,000 to support the refurbishment and enhancement of public facilities and furniture. For the biggest stories in Wales first, sign up to our daily newsletter here Parks and green spaces receive £500,000 to go towards the ongoing investment programme into the refurbishment of sports pavilions, upgrading of sports pitches and the repairs to parks infrastructure. The council’s unaudited draft statement of accounts for the year ending March 31, 2025 show the council had revenue stream earmarked reserves of £73.45m which are set aside for a variety of purposes. There are also specific reserves relating to funding for the existing capital programme plus future investment and infrastructure. The investment and infrastructure reserve is a specific reserve to fund the cost of maintaining and enhancing infrastructure across the county borough. The balance of this reserve at March 31, 2025, was £29.25m. The capital developments reserve represents funds set aside to fund the council’s approved three year capital programme and the balance of this reserve at March 31, 2025, was £88.8m. The new three-year capital programme for 2025-26 until 2027-28 agreed by council in March 2025 included an indicative allocation of £3.74m for a new highways management local government borrowing initiative, funded by Welsh Government. The final allocation for 2025-26 increased to £4.52m and the council said the additional £771,000 can now be allocated to highways and roads. The report to cabinet and full council said the proposed spend of £11.5m can be funded from these resources.
