Backing for £2m project to make borough ‘cleaner and greener’

Councillors in Caerphilly have welcomed plans to invest further in a “cleaner and greener” county borough.

The council is proposing a 50% increase in the project’s budget over the next two years, as part of the new budget proposals.

It will pay for targeted cleaning operations in each borough ward, as well as extra weeding, repairs to infrastructure, and road sweeping.

Cllr Chris Morgan, the cabinet member for green spaces, said the pilot project was “well received” last year, adding more investment would go some way towards reversing previous service cuts.

“After years of austerity… over £1 million has been taken out of our budgets for cleaning our streets and villages,” he told the council’s environment scrutiny committee.

One part of the project deploys two cleaning teams to each borough ward, to tackle hotspots flagged by ward councillors.

The committee chairman, Cllr Shane Williams, noted a report that described last year’s engagement levels as “low” – and Cllr Mike Adams asked whether any improvements could be made to the contact system.

Michael Headington, the council’s green spaces manager, said a new online system allowed for a single point of contact for councillors, who could arrange for two cleaning operations in their wards each year.

Potential issues around “equality between wards” were raised by Cllr Judith Pritchard, who said some areas of the borough are served by multiple councillors while others only have one elected representative.

“It wouldn’t be possible to deliver a pro rata approach in each councillor’s area,” replied Gavin Barry, a highways manager.

He said the current system would “ensure we get a presence across the borough”, and accepted “it will be slightly imbalanced in certain areas – but we try to address that through the coordinated and strategic approach we take to planning these works”.

Weed killing and removal proved to be a contentious topic, with several committee members telling officers more should be done to prevent weeds returning.

Cllr Dawn Ingram-Jones said weeds often popped back up between paving stones “within weeks” of treatment, and Cllr Bob Owen described “huge swathes of greenery” along kerbsides in Risca.

Officers urged councillors to keep reporting problem areas so they could be targeted for extra cleaning.

But in response to a question from Cllr Adrian Hussey about the extent of weeding in small villages, Mr Headington said the project would only allow for the “grubbing out” of weeded areas in the borough’s principal town centres.

He added the council would continue its existing weedkilling programme across the county borough’s adopted highways, however, with contractors carrying out two spraying sessions in the summer months.

There was praise for the project’s staff from Cllr Robert Chapman, who said the team “worked in the rain, they were covered in muck” last year to make the Upper Rhymney Valley look “absolutely beautiful”.

Cllr Morgan urged members to nominate their wards for the project, adding that “with everybody working together we can make our borough cleaner and greener”.