Agenda item
Highways Maintenance
Representatives from Highways Maintenance will give a presentation on their services including the Winter maintenance programme.
Minutes:
Andy Binner and Michael Watkins gave an overview of the responsibilities of the highways maintenance team and their response to the recent bad spell of weather. The following points were noted:
5.1 The Highways Maintenance Team is responsible for carriageway resurfacing, footway reconstruction, street lighting, gully cleaning, winter maintenance, pest control, flooding/warping, verge maintenance, highways tree, road lining, anti-skid surfacing and street signs.
5.2 This year has seen the worst winter on record for 30 years with 20 days of snow and ice and temperatures falling as low as –10 at times.
5.3 The gritting wagons went out 90 times on the primary network putting down a total of 4,200 tonnes of salt. This is double the amount normally put down throughout the whole winter season. An overview of the winter maintenance policy is on the City of York Council website. The priority area’s in terms of gritting is known as the ‘primary network’ and includes all the main arteries in and out of the city, all major bus routes and 15km of footpaths which includes all city centre footpaths and those around shopping centres and old peoples homes. Gritting is carried out on a ‘secondary network’ if conditions require it but is dependent on budget and resources.
5.4 It was stressed that the council do not have the resources to grit every street and footpath in the city. Requests from residents are looked at on a case by case basis but there is no guarantee it will be done.
5.5 The winter maintenance policy is being subject to a full internal review and feedback from residents is welcomed.
5.6 The bad weather earlier in the year highlighted a number of key issues to be addressed in the review; salt bins, clearing of footpaths, secondary routes and cycle tracks and the repair of pot holes.
5.7 There are currently around 7,500 potholes across the city in need of repair that the council know of and more are appearing as fast as they are being repaired. The initial priority is to repair the biggest pot holes and those on high speed roads to ensure the carriageways are safe. All potholes will have had an initial repair by May. The team are working with the parish councils and street environment officer to ensure that all the potholes are reported but if residents think any have been missed they are encouraged to ring (01904) 551551 to report them.
5.8 Andrew and Michael registered their thanks to the gritting staff who worked tirelessly for 20 days to keep the city moving.
The following questions and comments were noted:
a) Where do residents stand on clearing the footpaths outside their properties?
Response was given that this is difficult to answer because the law on this has never been tested. However, as long as you are making a reasonable and genuine effort to clear the footpath, it is unlikely that anyone could sue you.
b) Would it be possible to fix something to street signs to stop people from turning them around?
Response was given that this would be passed onto the blacksmiths for consideration.
c) Thank you for your hard work during the bad weather, the team did a good job.
d) I think it is unjust that residents are charged £11 if they call the council out for rodent control. This will benefit the whole area so why should one person pay for it?
Response was given that this charge to the resident is heavily subsidised by the council.
e) Over a year ago, the council asked residents for suggested locations for cycle paths in line with the Cycling City project. I sent in a number of suggestions but have not heard anything.
Response was given that this would be passed to the Cycling City project officer and the residents details were taken. Action
f) I noticed that some of the footpaths were treated with sand.
Response was given that due to a shortage of salt, a mixture of table salt and sand was used.