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Economy and Place Policy and Scrutiny Committee |
18 October 2022 |
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Report of the Director of Environment, Transport a Portfolio of the Executive Member for Transport |
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Highway Maintenance programme
Summary
1. The purpose of this report is to update the Economy and Place Policy and Scrutiny Committee on the current position with respect to City of York Council’s approach to Highway maintenance and to describe the improvement path the service is on.
Recommendations
2. The Committee is asked to:
1) Note the content of the report and consider whether the Scrutiny committee wish to undertake more detailed work this financial year to investigate practices in other Highway Authorities.
Reason: To respond to the Scrutiny request.
Highway maintenance
3. The approach to Highway maintenance at City of York Council follows UK good industry practice as promoted by UK Road Liaison Group (UKRLG) within published guidance. The guidance published by the UK Road Liaison Group (UKRLG) is endorsed by Department for Transport to the extent that following the guidance is considered essential for successful completion of the self-assessment questionnaire embedded within the ‘DfT Local highways maintenance incentive fund’.
4. The self-assessment questionnaire is 22 questions and answers submitted to DfT each year about how you manage highways as an asset. A satisfactory answer to over 18 of the questions secures the top level of funding. City of York achieves receives the maximum funding allocation in the ‘DfT Local highways maintenance incentive fund’. If the council systems were not in accordance with the guidance this level would not be achieved, dropping a level would reduce the funding received by 70% (in 2021/22 70% would have equated to £240k).
5. In order to follow the guidance the Council has adopted the first version of the Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Plan. This was agreed by the Executive in October 2021. Links to this document can be found in the Background papers section of this document.
6. In accordance with the HIAMP and the methodologies within, a Highway Maintenance programme is developed on an annual basis.. Assets are not simply prioritised for intervention because they are in the worst condition. The condition of the asset is a key factor, but elements such as the hierarchy of the road (in terms of usage), links to key services (such as schools and hospitals) are also considered and value for money. The Highway Maintenance programme for 2022-23 was signed off and published in May 2022. Links to the document pack can be found in the Background papers section of this document.
7. In order to prioritise interventions, annual condition surveys are undertaken. This information is stored publicly on the York open data. By way of example the link below is to the 2021 condition data.
https://data.yorkopendata.org/dataset/road-condition-survey-2021
8. There are a number of challenges when delivering a complex multimillion pound programme of this nature. First of all, the funding is objectively prioritised as there is neither the funding nor the capacity to make an intervention on every piece of highway every year. This can lead to issues about priorities being raised by residents and Councillors. In order to allow some subjectivity an allocation of Highway Maintenance budget is put aside as part of the budget process to be taken forward as Ward schemes. This is where Ward Councillors are able to bring forward schemes that aren’t in the current programme.
9. Flexibility in the main annual programme is limited because once the programme is agreed and the full year of works is planned including road space and procurement needs to be undertaken with respect to the whole programme to ensure efficiencies in materials and labour, for example, are attained and value for money is achieved.
10. Historically, due to the complexity of collecting and analysing of the condition data, the programme has been published for the year ahead. This then leaves questions around prioritisation outside of the coming year. The Council have recently invested in a new Highways Asset management ICT system and with improved automated methods for collecting condition information, it will be possible to develop a programme for the coming year and indicatively for the following years (subject to annual condition surveys and reactive condition reports). It is the ambition to start to publish a 4 year programme with the programme for the year and 3 years of indicative prioritisation to aid both with transparency and to steer Ward teams on the optimisation of Ward budgets.
11. Moving forward, a new structure is being implemented in Highways to place a greater focus on Highway Asset Management. A new Head of Highway Asset Management is in post and the asset management team roles are now being filled.
12. The team work closely with other Authorities and organisations (such as the Local Council Road Innovation group (LCRIG)) to explore and implement new methodologies and to ensure best practice is followed. The Association of Public Sector Excellence (APSE) publish papers on York’s performance in this area. There are 2 APSE reports attached to this paper as Annexes. Annex 1: Performance Indicator Standings 19-20 and Annex 2: Direction of travel 19-20.
13. Devolution will also bring opportunities and CYC are currently working with North Yorkshire County Council on a unified approach to HIAMP locally and at a Combined Authority level.
Council Plan
14. The Highway Maintenance work feeds into the following Council Plan priorities:
· Well-paid jobs and an inclusive economy
· A greener and cleaner city
· Getting around sustainably
· Safe communities and culture for all
· An open and effective council
Implications
15. The following implications have been considered.
Financial:
The current capital budget for 2022/23 for highway maintenance schemes is £10,373k. This comprises £2,835k of funding from the DfT with the remainder being funded by council funds. The detailed scheme allocations are set out in the annual highway maintenance report as referred to in para 5.
Human Resources (HR):
There are no HR implications.
Equalities:
The Council recognises its Public Sector Equality Duty under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other prohibited conduct; advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it in the exercise of a public authority’s functions. These are taken into account when working on any schemes within the Highway maintenance programme and as an overarching approach to Highway asset management.
Legal:
There are no Legal implications.
Crime and Disorder: There are no Crime & Disorder implications.
Information Technology (IT): There are no IT implications.
Property: There are no Property implications.
Other: There are no other implications.
Risk Management
16. Risk management around this work is undertaken at an operational and project level.
Contact Details
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Author:
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Chief Officer Responsible for the report:
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Andrew Davies Head of Highway Asset Management Directorate of Place
Dave Atkinson Head of Highways & Transport Directorate of Place
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James Gilchrist Director – Environment, Transport and Planning |
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Report Approved |
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Date |
10/10/2022 |
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Specialist Implications Officer(s) List information for all
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Wards Affected: List wards or tick box to indicate all |
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For further information please contact the author of the report |
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Abbreviations
HIAMP – Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Plan
LCRIG – Local Council Road Innovation Group
UKRLG – UK Road Liaison Group
Background Papers:
Meeting of the Executive October 2021
Item – Highway infrastructure Asset Management Plan
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s152733/HIAMP%20V12%20Oct%202021.pdf
HIAMP v7
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s152734/Annex%20A%20-%20HIAMP_v7.pdf
Highway inspection manual
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s152735/Annex%20B%20-%20HSIM-word%20version.pdf
Officer decision published May 2022 – Highway Annual Maintenance Programme 2022-23
Highway maintenance programme
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=6525
Paper
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159060/Highways%20Annual%20Maintenance%20Programme%20Report2022-2023%20Post%20PHCMT.docx.pdf
Annex 1 - Highway report
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159061/Annex%201%20Highways%20Report.docx.pdf
Annex 2 - Large Patching
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159062/Annex%202%20LP.docx.pdf
Annex 3 - Summary of budgets and annexes
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159063/Annex%203%20CW.docx.pdf
Annex 4 - Footway
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159064/Annex%204%20FW.docx.pdf
Annex 5 - Street lighting
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159065/Annex%205%20SL.docx.pdf
Annex 6 - Street kughting steel replacement
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159066/Annex%206%20SL.docx.pdf
Annex 7 - Concrete column replacement
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159067/Annex%207%20SL.docx.pdf
Annex 8 - Bar walls
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159068/Annex%208%20BW.docx.pdf
Annex 9 -Tadaster road
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159069/Annex%209%20TR.docx.pdf
Annex 10 - Drainage
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159070/Annex%2010%20DR.docx.pdf
Annex 11 - Surface dressing
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159071/Annex%2011%20SD.docx.pdf
Annex 12 - Reactive maintenance programme
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159072/Annex%2012%20RM.docx.pdf
Annex 13 - Performance review of Maintenance capital delivery
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159073/Annex%2013%20PR.docx.pdf
2022-23 Carriage resurfacing sites book
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159074/2022-23%20Carriageway%20Resurfacing%20Sites%20Book.pdf
2022-23 Footway sites book
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159074/2022-23%20Carriageway%20Resurfacing%20Sites%20Book.pdf
2022-23 Large patching sites book
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159076/2022-23%20Large%20patching%20Sites%20Book.pdf
2022-23 Surface dressing sites book
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159077/2022-23%20Surface%20Dressing%20Sites-%20Book.pdf
HIAMP v7
https://democracy.york.gov.uk/documents/s159078/WEBsite%20Version%20-%20HIAMP_v7.pdf
Annexes
Annex 1 – APSE Performance indicator standings 19-20
Annex 2 – APSE Direction of travel 19-20