PROBLEMS with Monmouthshire housing estates’ play areas and open spaces will cost over £120,000 to fix, its council has said.

Council officers are seeking to get the money spent at 11 housing developments across the county because they say it would save the authority money in the long term.

An inspection found nearly half the money - £58,120 - should be spent on the Rockfield Road development in Monmouth. Some of that should be spent repairing and maintaining the community centre and changing rooms there before they can be leased out.

The sum would also pay for drainage ditches to be cleaned and pavements repair to improve safety.

The money for the work is already held by the council after it was given it by housing developers when they built homes across the county.

Among the proposals the commercial and green spaces manager at Monmouthshire council Tim Bradfield wants passed by a senior councillor this week, are £19,000 to be spent at Pen y Fal in Abergavenny, £12,300 on Church Road in Caldicot and £12,683 at Rockfield Grove in Undy.

At the Abergavenny development, the money would be used to repair four shelters, footpaths and steps. Barriers would be installed to prevent vehicles being able to drive over open space there. Artificial turf would also be laid there.

In Undy, a vandalised wooden play area would be taken down and replaced with steel equipment.

Money for Caldicot would be spent on laying artificial turf, replacing a vandalised spring animal and tree thinning.

When the sites were first developed, the council asked for rubberised tarmac to be used. Over time, they have found it is vandalised more frequently than artificial turf, and that it creates trip hazards and an uneven surface.

The money will be released if the cabinet member responsible agrees to the plan on Wednesday.

Other money that would be spent across Monmouthshire if the proposal is approved includes £9,000 at Station Road in Rogiet, £2,500 at Thornwell Farm in Chepstow and Troy Yard in Monmouth and £2,100 at Denny View in Caldicot.