£12m roads boost as residents slam ‘horrendous’ conditions

More than £12 million will spent on roads, pavements, bridges and drains in a south Wales city in 2026-27 and every penny if not more is needed, according to some residents.

Swansea Council’s cabinet approved expenditure of £12.3 million at a meeting on March 19 and council leader Rob Stewart said it could end up being higher.

It won’t mean all the £12.3 million is spent on road resurfacing and potholes but a lot – around £9 million according to a cabinet report breaking down the figures – will.

Cllr Andrew Stevens, cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, said: “This is a huge investment and on a par with our biggest ever.”

He said more than 30 roads have been resurfaced over the past 12 months and thousands of potholes repaired.

Repairs have been carried out this month on Uplands Crescent, Uplands, but it appears that a couple of edges are already crumbling.

Aleysha Rees said she’d recently had a painful road encounter on Uplands Terrace near its junction with Uplands Crescent.

“I got out of my car and trod in a pothole and sprained my ankle,” she said. Her verdict on the condition of roads was “bad”.

Aleysha was having a coffee with Paul Rhys-Jones, of Uplands, who felt roads were “horrendous”.

The duo felt more resurfacing was needed and that it would be cheaper in the long run for the council rather than temporary repairs and having to deal with lots of motorists’ insurance claims.

Roofer Thomas Coe felt the conditions of roads was “ridiculous” and had been for a long while. He said he would prioritise more investment in them.

He added: “They do deteriorate quickly with the weather. And it can be hard to do the work because of the moving traffic.”

Some people contend that the growth in heavier sport utility vehicles and electric cars with their large batteries are placing more pressure on the road network.

The cabinet report said Swansea has a £78 million road maintenance backlog and that £7 million is needed every year to prevent further deterioration.

It said highways authorities like councils had a statutory duty to maintain roads and a general statutory duty to “assert and protect the rights of the public to use and enjoy” them.

The report said carriageway schemes were selected based on factors such as network importance, use, condition and likely deterioration.

On top of the roads there’s all the pavements, road drains, safety barriers and street lights to maintain, plus in Swansea’s case more than 200 bridges, culverts and subways, and 4,500 retaining walls.

Cllr Stevens said the report was “honest about the scale of the problem”. He felt levels of central government funding under the previous Conservative administration had hampered councils’ ability to keep on top of the backlog.

Cllr Stewart said things were different under the new Westminster Government and that he was also “confident” there may be more money for roads coming from the Welsh Government in due course. He said the “taps were turned off” and have now been “turned back on”.

Cllr Stewart added that the council would look to top up the highways pot by a further £2 million depending on its end-of-year financial position on March 31.