A £1,200,000 funding boost for Ceredigion’s roads will not be used for works on trunk roads, council chiefs have confirmed.

The Welsh Government has provided additional funding to Ceredigion County Council to carry out road repairs and schemes as part of the Highways Refurbishment Grant Funding.

That money will be focused on A, B and C roads which the authority has said will help speed up plans for major repairs under a council work programme running up to 2021/22.

But council Cabinet members heard that the authority’s technical services department has ruled out using any of the additional funding for schemes on the county’s trunk road network, insisting that as trunk roads are the responsibility of the Welsh Government, any schemes should be funded directly by them.

Assessments have shown that the condition of the Ceredigion road network has actually improved over the last five years, with 11.7 per cent of the current A, B and C roads included in the council’s network being considered to be in “poor condition” currently, compared to 15.6 per cent of the network being classed as poor in 2013/14.

A report by Rhodri Llwyd of the technical services department said: “The authority has a prioritised programme of road refurbishment and resurfacing works identified, which extends to 2021/22 and beyond, and this funding will allow that programme to be accelerated, thereby further improving the condition.”

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