Plans to spend nearly £188m on projects like new schools, a care home, and improving Llanelli town centre have been agreed by Carmarthenshire councillors.

They approved a five-year capital budget which set out a range of investments at a meeting on February 26. Around half of the £187.9m expenditure is planned for 2025-26.

According to the budget report nearly £20m will go on a new residential care and nursing home in Cwmgwili, between Cross Hands and Ammanford with a third of the sum allocated in 2025-26 and two-thirds the following year.

A £15m investment in Llanelli town centre is earmarked for next year while Burry Port harbour is set for a £2m upgrade over the next two years.

The report showed expenditure of £31m on new schools and upgrades to existing schools over five years plus a further £31m of unspent schools funding which has rolled over to the new capital programme, taking the total to £62m.

The £187.9m investment will be funded by grants, borrowing by the council, sales of assets, and use of reserves.

Cllr Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education , said the Plaid-Independent administration had a clear vision and exciting plans.

Cllr Kevin Madge, of Labour, said his party welcomed a number of the capital budget proposals, such as the new care home, but was concerned about what wasn’t included.

Cllr Madge said there was a masterplan for his local town, Ammanford, but that it never seemed to benefit. “Be honest and say there isn’t any money,” he said.

Other councillors were keen to know if a new Ysgol Heol Goffa, Llanelli, would be built following an independent review of additional learning needs education in the area. Six options have been put forward which, following feedback from people who took part in the review, will be discussed by cabinet with a decision due before the summer break.

Council leader Darren Price said Ammanford was “an absolute priority” for the administration in terms of education and regeneration. “It’s absolutely on our radar,” he said.

The Plaid leader said any new leisure centre in the town, should it be taken forward following a feasibility study, would need external funding.

Cllr Price also said that the UK Labour Government was reducing a pot of funding for projects called the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) – introduced by the previous Conservative government to replace European Union money – by 40%. “Boris Johnson did more for the Amman Valley than the Labour Party in London,” he said. “That’s the fact of the matter.”

The SPF programme runs until the end of March but has been extended for a year by the Westminster Labour Government. Cllr Price said it should “at least match” the Conservatives’ level of SPF funding.