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The spending reflects one of the earliest priorities of Neath Port Talbot Council’s Rainbow Coalition - to improve the “public realm” throughout the county borough.

The proposed programme will see £200,000 spent on improvements at public toilets, £445,000 on cleanliness (involving new electric street vacuums and sweepers), £142,000 on improved grass mowing, £800,000 on improved playgrounds and green spaces and £300,000 on improved bus shelters.

A further £344,000 will go on footbridge maintenance, £201,000 on improved waste services (including extra vehicles), just over £1m will go on improved highways (jet patching of rural lanes, extra surfacing in the valleys and pothole machinery) and £150,000 on additional tree management work.

Also, £200,000 will go on improvements at Gnoll Country Park (rebuild/re-design of toilets, electricity hook-up and an adventure park), £50,000 will go on improved countryside structures and £290,000 will be for ad-hoc improvements at the Aberavon Seafront (including the sunken gardens), Neath Town Centre (planters and storage), repair/replacement of town and valley street signs, the Talbot Memorial Park and Victoria Gardens bus stations.

The money comes from additional Welsh Government funding and the council’s approved spending programme.

Members of the Environment and Regeneration Streetscene Cabinet Board will be asked to approve the £4.2m additional works programme at their meeting on December 2nd.

A report by officers to the Board says: “Further to the new political administration’s priorities and service needs it is proposed the above finance is allocated to actions as set out in the programme.”