Agenda item

Report by Assistant Director (Highways, Transport and Planning).

The County Council has allocated an additional one-off £4.5m of revenue funding for highways maintenance and repairs, including flooding and drainage. 

The Committee is asked to consider the proposals for spending the funding.

55.1     The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, Cllr Dennis, introduced the report saying that she was pleased to be able report an increase in the core budget to cover the impact of inflationary pressures which had impacted highways disproportionately, but also some one-off additional funding.  Recent unusual weather patterns had meant that systems were not coping and as the service had become very reactive to urgent situations it had created backlogs in other equally important areas.  One area of importance was the riparian duties of every householder whose property abutted the highway.  Recent events had shown a lack of understanding by the general public of their responsibilities and those of the County Council.  Proposals in the report aimed to address this problem more strongly.

55.2     The Committee received a presentation on the proposals for the distribution of the additional funding. 

55.3     Members of the Committee asked questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows.

55.4     A new County Council communications strategy was being worked up to keep the public better informed and Highways have been very involved.  Officers would like to increase the amount of social media reporting.

55.5     There is a process in place on Riparian duties and enforcement will be an option if it is needed.  Work has taken place for many years with landowners to try and resolve flooding issues, especially those which impact properties or the highways network.  There can be difficulties in establishing ownership of land and the funding will support this process. 

55.6     The Flood Risk Team is working with different agencies who have flooding responsibilities, for example the Environment Agency on river flooding.  Water boards were also starting to get active on surface water.

55.7     Staff morale was quite low with many staff working overtime due to the large increase in work needed but it was hoped this extra funding could help to improve that as staff were keen to reduce the backlog.

55.8     Officers confirmed that they were fully aware of where drainage hotspots were.  If members felt new hotspots were arising, they were asked to feed information through to the area teams.  Sometimes these hotspots were not resolved as quickly as would be liked as they were intertwined with riparian responsibilities.  Members were keen to know of any planned drainage works in their area and have the communications shared with them.  Cllr Dennis said she would speak to officers to see if information could be included with the high-level works programme information which was shared in the weekly publication The Bulletin.

55.9     A Member questioned the difference between mechanical options available with the Jet Patcher and the Pothole Pro and officers agreed to share a briefing with the Committee members on the differences.

55.10  The funding allocated for additional tree work did not include any work on trees suffering from Ash Die Back disease, which was being dealt with in a separate project.

55.11  Over the last ten years vehicle numbers had increased tremendously and caused damage to road surfaces.  Electric vehicles were also heavy vehicles and would cause an impact on the road surface.  The proposal is about reactive work and a separate piece of work was being done on the Asset Management approach. 

55.12  Cllr Dennis confirmed that any underspend in 2023-24 could be rolled over the next financial year and that the additional works would have no impact on community highways schemes.

55.13  Resolved - that the Committee:

1.   Welcomes the proposals and appreciates the work done to develop them, and the speed at which it was undertaken.

2.   Expressed concerns about the need to improve the communications strategy, including proactive engagement with the local member(s)

3.   Notes the approach to riparian issues.

4.   Notes the concerns around the identification of hotspots and how they are prioritised.

5.   Stresses the importance of preventative work.

6.   Agrees that work done with the Environment Agency and the water companies is very important.

7.   Welcomes the wide scope of maintenance and investigative work planned.

8.   Acknowledges that electric vehicles are currently heavier than the equivalent conventional model, and the implications for the road network.