Cabinet Members have agreed a £30.894m Capital Programme for Highways, Transportation and Strategic Projects in 2024/25 – ensuring major investment in our road network and key priorities like flood alleviation continues next year.
At their meeting on Wednesday, March 20, Cabinet approved a programme that makes respective capital allocations of £14.265m (to Highways Technical Services) and £16.629m (to Strategic Projects) for the financial year starting on April 1, 2024. The funding will continue to help the Council maintain, repair, improve and future-proof the Rhondda Cynon Taf highway and transportation network, while responding to evolving travel methods and climate change.
The programme complements external funding that the Council has secured. Major work has been delivered over the last three financial years to repair bridges, roads, culverts and walls damaged by Storm Dennis in 2020 – and targeted Welsh Government funding is again provided for this in 2024/25. Capital and revenue grants from Welsh Government for Coal Tips will also continue next year, including funding the Tylorstown Landslip remediation.
Bids are also submitted to Welsh Government across many transport themes next year – Road Safety, Safe Routes in Community, Active Travel, the Local Transport Fund, Resilient Roads, and refining the 20mph default speed limit.
The Council continues to engage with the Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) City Deal and South Wales Metro, including enhancing services on the Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr lines – while the Porth Transport Hub is built ahead of it being brought into use. Rhondda Cynon Taf is also benefitting from schemes under the Metro+ Priority Bus Infrastructure Programme, while Ultra Low Emissions Vehicles funding is being sought by the CCR Transport Authority.
Highways Technical Services (£14.265m)
The Programme allocates £5.98m for carriageway resurfacing and surface treatment schemes – including 64 full resurfacing schemes (that are named in the Appendix to the report considered by Cabinet on Wednesday). In addition, funding is earmarked for 18 named footway renewals (£575,000), with this allocation also including disabled access improvements at various locations.
For unadopted roads, a £200,000 allocation extends the programme by four schemes – located off Bronallt Terrace in Abercwmboi, off Brynmair Road in Godreaman, at Orchard Close in Porth, and at Graig Road in Ynyshir.
A £6.58m budget for Highways Structures will progress many schemes – A4059 Commercial Street footbridge (Aberdare), Llanwonno Road Railway Bridge (Stanleytown), Glan Road Bridge (Cwmdare), Afon Cynon Bridge (Cwmbach), Victoria Bridge culvert (Pontypridd), Beachwood Road culvert (Taffs Well), Margaret Street wall (Pontygwaith), the Rhigos Rock Netting works, and completing Brook Street footbridge (Ystrad). The funding covers wall refurbishments and confined spaces culvert repairs at many locations.
Welsh Government funding for Storm Dennis repairs in 2024/25 amounts to £3.61m. Among the programme is the Castle Inn Footbridge replacement in Treforest and Berw Road Bridge repairs in Pontypridd, which are progressing. Feeder Pipe Footbridge repairs in Abercynon are at a pre-construction phase.
Elsewhere, £320,000 funding for Parks Structures will progress the Gelli Isaf Bridge repair scheme (Aberdare) and retaining wall repairs at Evans Terrace (Dinas). The £473,000 Street Lighting programme will cover work to modernise signals, refurbishments, and ongoing replacement of columns and supply cables. Small scale Traffic Management schemes (£100,000) and work to repair and upgrade Car Parks (£35,000) are also funded.
Strategic Projects (£16.629m)
The Council consistently benefits from Welsh Government support for Land Drainage/Flood Risk improvements, with the Council match-funding 15% of the value. A rolling three-year capital programme identifies local projects, and business cases are subsequently submitted with the aim of securing funding.
In total, 15 larger Individual Flood Alleviation Schemes are submitted to Welsh Government at a value of £4m – along with 14 Small Scale Schemes at a value of £1.11m. Grant bids are also submitted to the Resilient Roads Fund for 18 schemes, valued at £2.7m. All of the named schemes across the three programmes are listed in the Appendix to Wednesday’s Cabinet report.
If all bids are successful, the total match-funding would be £1.185m, provided via the Council’s own Drainage/Flood Risk Improvements Programme. Funding has also been allocated to develop schemes outside of the current year’s programme to identify opportunities for 2025/26 (£25,000), along with funding for small works identified as part of flooding investigations (£75,000).
Transportation funding is allocated to the Llanharan Sustainable Transport Corridor (£5.12m), following the recent announcement that the Council and Welsh Government have worked closely to redesign the scheme – embedding sustainable transport, public transport and active travel as core themes.
Similarly, funding is allocated to the A465 Cynon Gateway Transit Corridor (£1.26m), with the scheme currently being refined with Welsh Government.
The A4119 Coed Ely dualling scheme (£5.86m) is progressing towards completion in summer 2024, and Council funding is complementing the major allocation secured from the UK Levelling Up Fund, and in previous years from Welsh Government. A review of the traffic challenges facing the Rhondda Fawr, focusing on Stag Square in Treorchy, is allocated £384,000 funding.
In addition, £740,000 for the Park and Ride Programme has been provided to continue to create parking capacity at railway stations alongside the Metro. Among the work to be carried out in 2024/25 is the Treorchy Park and Ride project, to be implemented by Transport for Wales on the Council’s behalf. Funding of £1.39m for the Making Better Use Programme will target low-cost, high-value improvements to resolve accessibility and connectivity issues. An element of this work will focus on the A4059 corridor in the Cynon Valley.
Councillor Andrew Morgan OBE, Leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf Council and Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Investment, said: “The annual Highways and Transportation Capital Programme sets out the Council’s main areas of focus for the year ahead – including key investment to maintain local roads, tackle flood alleviation, repair structures, and progress larger strategic traffic projects. The 2024/25 programme represents a major £30.894m for the service, which continues to be one of the Council’s main investment priorities.
“We also continue to pursue external funding opportunities to complement our own investment. Next year’s Storm Dennis allocation from Welsh Government is £3.61m, along with separate funding for coal tips, as we continue to repair damaged infrastructure while also responding to the threat of climate change. We’ve also bid for important funding across flood alleviation, road safety, safe routes, and active travel, to help further deliver improvements in communities.
“The 2024/25 programme allocates almost £6m across road resurfacing, footway renewals and unadopted roads, to continue our accelerated funding approach in this area. The overall condition of our roads has reflected this investment, having seen a general trend of improvement over many years. For example, 15.7% of all classified roads required maintenance in 2010/11, compared to the 2022/23 indicator that this figure has now dropped to 3.6%.
“Highways Structures is also another key area of investment for the service. A £6.5m allocation for next year’s programme will develop nine larger schemes – including delivery of the Rhigos Mountain rock netting repairs this summer. The separate Storm Dennis programme will support the Castle Inn Footbridge and White Bridge schemes to their completion in the months ahead.
“The A4119 Coed Ely dualling is progressing towards completion this summer, while we continue to work closely with Welsh Government over targeted solutions to traffic challenges in Llanharan and the Upper Cynon Valley. Finally, our Park and Ride Programme continues to look at ways to increase parking capacity at railway stations to complement the South Wales Metro, with an important scheme to be delivered in Treorchy this year.
“Following Cabinet Members’ agreement on Wednesday, the new Highways, Transportation and Strategic Projects Capital Programme will be adopted by the Council, and will be delivered in the year ahead from April 1, 2024.”
Posted on 25/03/2024