Fixing highways in Mid Wales will cost more than £40 million

Powys County Council has agreed to spend up to £7.7 million a year for the next five years on roads, footways, drainage, highway structures and lighting.

It has extended its current stop on major schemes in order to focus on investment in the existing infrastructure.

The moratorium will continue on work which make significant alterations and/or improvements to the highway infrastructure that are in excess of a £50,000 limit.

A decision notice, for the portfolio holder for highways, recycling and assets, was published on Friday setting out how the funding for highways will be allocated.

The report says the highway core funding of £1.5m will continue for the next five years and will be allocated to schemes including highway strengthening (resurfacing), surface dressing, town centre footways, bridge strengthening, structures major maintenance, drainage, remedial earthworks, road safety and traffic management.

A road safety and traffic management allocation of £75,000, funded from the core funding, will continue to deliver schemes previously approved by the relevant shire committee.

To mitigate the effects of reduced revenue funding of £1.12m in the coming year will be targeted at prioritised sites throughout the county.

The funding will rise to £1.5m from 2020/2021 to 2023/2024.

More funding will be targeted at managing the rate of deterioration of the highway network while £2.5m will be spent over the next five years on bridge strengthening and renewals.

The report adds: “This will enable a number of substandard bridges to be either strengthened or replaced to remove restrictions or allow continued unrestricted access to communities and businesses.”

Funding of £1.1m has been provided for street lighting over a five year period.

This will be used to address an ageing cable network and structurally defective lighting columns.