A SPRING cleaning programme across Torfaen is set to be funded by a reserve built up from unspent council funds.
The borough council has £1.5 million in spare cash that wasn’t spent in the 2021/22 financial year, which it was instead agreed at that point to put into a reserve fund.
The council set up a number of “earmarked reserves” at the time, with the intention of boosting its financial resilience and sustainability and so it had “scope to support various initiatives”.
The heading “members policy choice” was used for one of the funds with the intention it would be used to give councillors discretion to support projects to benefit specific areas within the borough or the wider borough as a whole.
A decision report, written by the finance department, is now recommending council leader Anthony Hunt approve spending £800,000 from the fund to support six schemes.
As well as the ‘spring clean plus’ programme it is recommended £150,000 be provided for the roof at Cwmbran Stadium Bowls Club, that £80,000 be allocated to play area resurfacing while schemes to refresh war memorials and to support Destination Torfaen tourism events will each be awarded £50,000.
The spring clean programme will comprise community cleaning, with a budget of £35,000 and the same amount for cleansing and waste clearing in public areas, and £65,000 to clear the council’s section of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal and other works.
That will leave a balance of £935,000 which will be subject to further work on how it could be spent.
The report warns there is a risk once fully developed and costed the approved projects will exceed the initial estimates so the list will have to remain “flexible” and some projects could be “decommitted or reduced in scope” to ensure there is funding available for other future schemes.
Labour’s Cllr Hunt, who represents Panteg, is due to approve the spending plans in a written decision on Monday, April 28.