Newport City Council is planning to invest £6.6m into the city’s road network over the next 12 months.
The investment will support a major road maintenance programme, focusing on the city’s most critical and highest-priority roads. These include roads such as Malpas Road, Newport Bridge, Lighthouse Road, Chepstow Road and Caerleon Road.
The council has secured just over £4.4 million from Welsh Government to help finance the programme, through the new highway management local government borrowing initiative.
The council will also be allocating around £2.2 million of its own resources to the programme. This includes £1 million from underspend from the previous financial year, a move which was announced at the June meeting of the council's Cabinet. This investment is also on top of the council’s usual annual budget for carrying out road repairs as and when they occur.
“We promised more investment into our road network, and I’m pleased to say we are delivering on that promise,” said Councillor Dimitri Batrouni, leader of the council.
“Councillors from every ward have been sharing residents’ concerns about roads with us. We’ve heard those concerns, and we get it.
“That’s why we’re putting this programme in place, and it’s also why I’m delighted that we have today announced even more funding for the work.
“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.
“This level of cash hasn’t been allocated to a project like this for years. As you would expect with that level of investment, it is going to be a huge undertaking, and it won’t happen overnight.
“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.
“We will keep residents and businesses updated with all of the latest information as the works progress.”
The programme will consist of two elements, both of which will run at the same time as each other.
The first element will include high-priority roads which need full resurfacing work. The second element will include high-priority roads which require surface treatments rather than full resurfacing to preserve the highway asset,
The council said it was proposing to carry out work on a total of 55 sections of road as part of the programme. This includes 36 sections of road which require full resurfacing, and 19 which require surface treatments.
Residents, businesses and visitors will be kept informed of the programme’s work through the council's website and social media channels.
