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The backlog of maintenance on Merthyr Tydfil council buildings stands at £43m. At a meeting of the Sustainable Merthyr Tydfil scrutiny committee on Tuesday, October 21, the council’s director of finance and section 151 officer Craig Flynn said it was a “significant cost” of works but it was to be completed over a five-year priority period so it wouldn’t be required in year one. He said they’re looking at where that cost is sitting in terms of local authority responsibility and the schools’ responsibility , and that those costs would have to be financed. with regards to the current funding position of local authorities, the cost to address those backlog works would be done by borrowing with a significant revenue cost which would have to be incurred. Stay informed on everything Merthyr Tydfil by signing up to our newsletter here . He also mentioned the capacity issue within the team in being able to take forward those works and that a business case is being developed for the efficient and effective delivery of both property and estates. Councillor Andrew Barry said it was an “enormous” amount of money. He said he was disappointed the report didn’t list what was related to statutory provision and what wasn’t, as clearly what is outside statutory provision would become a priority to dispose of. “If we dispose of assets that aren’t statutory related then clearly that reduces our asset responsibility and certainly reduces the maintenance backlog financial requirement as well," said councillor Barry . Another council officer said the bulk of the £43m related to operational properties and the majority of those were educational properties. They said leisure properties would sit outside of statutory provision but these costs related to all operational properties and very few were surplus. They added that whether services can be delivered in a different way to release additional property is something which needs to be considered as part of the operational plan going forward.
