Council commits £14.7 million to transport infrastructure projects

Anthony Lewis, local democracy reporter

A local authority is set spend more than £14m on transport infrastructure projects next year, including two schemes which failed to get backing from the Welsh Government following a review.

The total allocation for transport infrastructure for 2024-25 in Rhondda Cynon Taf is £14.7m.

A report to cabinet on Wednesday, 20 March, says the most substantive allocations of annual funding are typically towards the progression of a programme of major economic infrastructure investments across RCT.

Two of the council’s prioritised schemes – Llanharan Sustainable Transport Corridor (formerly Link Road) and A465 Cynon Gateway North – have been subject to the roads review process initiated by the Welsh Government, which did not support either of the projects.

Refined

But the council said it has further refined the Llanharan proposal, taking into account the findings of the review, and the government has initially indicated support in principle and talks are continuing.

The report said the case remains that major interventions are still required to mitigate significant traffic and transportation-related challenges that will only multiply in both cases as a result of planned infrastructure and housing development.

The council said it will seek to work closely with Welsh Government to enable sustainable solutions to be identified that overcome these challenges and promote sustainable growth and economic activity.

As a result, £5.1m is being allocated to the Llanharan Sustainable Transport Corridor and £1.2m to the A465 Cynon Gateway Transit Corridor.

The dualling of the A4119 from Coed Ely to Ynysmaerdy is set to receive £5.8m, with the report saying Alun Griffiths Contractors Ltd is making good progress on site.

Welsh Government decided this project was outside the scope of the roads review with physical works having already substantially started.

Levelling Up Fund grant

The project benefits from £11.4m from the Levelling Up Fund grant from UK Government, which is in addition to previous years of funding from Welsh Government and the scheme is scheduled for completion this summer.

The Gelli/Treorchy Link Road would have £384,000 spent on it and the report said this will be reviewed in light of roads review, the introduction of new policy tests for road building and the options to overcome the challenges facing the Rhondda Fawr, in particular those related to Stag Square.

The purpose of the review will be to revisit the issues and establish sustainable objectives to address this ongoing problem.

The plan is to spend £740,000 on the park and ride programme which aims to create additional parking capacity at railway stations across RCT to allow drivers to switch to rail travel, encouraging a shift in favour of more sustainable forms of travel that contribute to reducing congestion and harmful emissions.

The report said : “Park and ride is a key element to enable mode shift and promote accessibility to the Metro and opportunities to add value to Metro will be kept under review as the full scope and detail of the Metro project crystallises.”

Park and ride

The council said it has worked with Transport for Wales (TfW) over the implementation of the Treorchy park and ride project and TfW will be implementing this £571,000 project on the council’s behalf.

And £1.39m will go on the Making Better Use and Miscellaneous Improvement programme.

The report said the ethos of this is to identify, design and deliver a series of low-cost, high-value improvements to deal with a number of operational issues covering safety, accessibility, efficiency, and enhancements to bus corridors and active travel, including working with partners to resolve accessibility and connectivity-related issues, with an element of this work focusing on the A4059 corridor