Newport’s food festival and winter wonderland will be among the events boosted by another £250,000 investment, the city council’s leader has announced.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday July 8, Cllr Dimitri Batrouni said the local authority would make a series of “one-off investments” funded by an underspend in last year’s budget.

The £250,000 is “initial” funding for the council’s “big” upcoming events programme in the city centre and other parts of Newport, he said.

Other spending includes £150,000 towards the council’s network of CCTV cameras, and £120,000 to improve the staff toilets at the council’s Telford depot, its main vehicle fleet base.

Cllr Batrouni said the budget underspend would also fund a £50,000 plan for assisted technologies in the social care sector.

And £250,000 will be put towards a new community grant scheme, which the council soon will publish full details of, including application criteria.

At the same meeting, cabinet members agreed an updated library strategy for the city, and congratulated the service on boosting the number of people attending library-based events across the city.

More than 36,000 people took part in various events last year, up from around 16,000 the previous year.