Council pledges to clean up streets following dog poo complaints

Twm Owen – Local democracy reporter

A blitz on dog poo is coming as a council plots how it intends to spend £248 million over the next year.

A clean up of the borough’s streets has been promised by Torfaen council leader Anthony Hunt in response to comments from the public who’ve responded to a consultation on the budget plan for the upcoming financial year.

That will see council tax increase by 4.95 per cent, defended as one of the lowest rises in Wales for a fourth consecutive year, pushing band D bills up by £76.75 a year.

The proposed budget was agreed by Torfaen’s Labour cabinet at its meeting at the Civic Centre, in Pontypool, on Tuesday, February 18.

It will now have to be presented to the full council for approval on March 4 and Cllr Hunt said it addresses residents’ concerns raised in the consultation that is still on-going.

Spring clean

“The core issues of poo and potholes and pavements were raised and on this we’ve tried to listen,” said the Panteg councillor.

“There is £2m for local roads to help improve them and on dog poo, that comes up time and time again, we’re planning for a broad spring clean this year and a campaign to tackle the issue of dog fouling, those are just some of the ways we’ve tried to respond to comments in the consultation.”

The additional £2m for highway repairs is on top of a commitment made in July to provide £3m capital funding for highway maintenance taking the total fund to £5m and uses the Welsh Government’s local government borrowing imitative that is intended to address the quality of road surfaces.

Cllr Hunt said calls for “streamlining and efficiencies” are also being met with the council’s agreement to share its chief executive with neighbouring Blaenau Gwent and said: “We’re having fewer senior staff rather than starting at the bottom and making cuts from there.”

Charges

The 4.95 per cent council tax rise would see a band D bill increase to £1,627.32 before precept charges by community councils and Gwent Police are added on top.

“We are proposing one of the lowest council tax raises in Wales for the fourth year in a row and by my figures people have been paying £148 less in Torfaen than they would had we raised it by the average in Wales,” said Cllr Hunt.

He said Torfaen has the fifth lowest council tax in Wales, in recognition of the rising cost of living, and the budget continues to fund support for 9,426 residents who are unable to pay costing just over £500,000.

Other spending commitments in the proposed budget includes £5.4m more for schools and a further £800,000 for school transport and additional learning needs. There is also a further £800,000 for the expansion of Crownbridge Special School in Croesyceiliog.

An additional £1m is allocated to adult social care to maintain services at existing levels of demand of around 1,030 clients while a further £1m, and additional funds from reserves, will go towards a two-year programme in children’s care intended to initially provide additional placements this year but leading to a net reduction by 2027/28 which will address rising costs within the service.