A MAIN road leading to a town centre will be closed to traffic for weeks due to sewerage improvements paid for by council regeneration funds.
Though the sewerage network is owned by Welsh Water the £455,000 upgrade to the network in the Hanbury Road and Commercial Street area of Pontyoool will be paid for by Torfaen Borough Council as the privately owned firm is unwilling to spend the cash itself.
That has prompted the council to use money it was awarded from the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund to pay Welsh Water to manage the works as without them future town centre regeneration programmes may not be able to go ahead.
Cwmbran Coed Eva member Fiona Cross told her Labour cabinet colleagues she was “struggling to understand why Welsh Water won’t co-invest in their own asset.”
Dave Leech, the council’s director for communities, replied: “That is a really good question that we asked of Welsh Water.”
He said the firm’s position that the sewer condition hasn’t yet deteriorated to a level that would prompt immediate investment, though it acknowledges a failure to invest in the sewer would likely prohibit further regeneration or redevelopment activity coming forward.
“The urgency for us is we faced the decision do we go ahead now, yes or no,” said Mr Leech.
Cllr Cross said that was “disappointing” while leader Anthony Hunt said: “It seems really we either invest in this or block off any regeneration of that part of the town centre. It’s disappointing Welsh Water won’t invest but at least they are helping us to try and minimise costs.”
An order to close the road for up to 10 weeks, from January, will be made but Mr Leech said the council wants that to be kept to a minimum and it is expected the work will take between four and eight weeks.
He said talks have already taken place with bus companies around alternative pick up and drop off points while vehicles will have to access the town centre from the other side.
Cllr Cross said it was important the council helps businesses “as much as we can” during the road closures and Mr Leech said it is doing so, including having avoided work before Christmas.
The council is putting aside £528,000, to cover any over run on costs, from its £19 million Shared Prosperity Fund which since 2022 has been used to run various regeneration projects.
Welsh Water will co-design the project with Torfaen and will appoint an independent cost consultant while the council will also have its own consultant to “challenge any costs”.
Work is expected to be completed before a final decision is reached on the Levelling Up Fund projects, to convert the Hanbury Road toilets to a restaurant and restore St James’ Church, so there would be no conflict between the construction works.