To consider the above report

Members considered an increase to the capital programme for 2018/19 to deliver a supplementary road resurfacing programme.

Councillor Bicknell explained that the report came recommended by Cabinet. The borough had approximately 650 kilometres of road network, which was valued at £1.2bn. Therefore maintenance was always a good investment for the future. The graphs on page 39 showed the huge reductions in the percentage of roads needing to be considered for maintenance.

The council was positioned at eight place overall in the list of over 113 councils around the country that used a standard bench mark method of scoring the condition of highways. That was again a position of excellence that this council had risen to over the last 10 years. This was the result of close partnership working with contractors and officers and for that he thanked them on behalf of the residents.

Paragraph 2.3  of the report detailed the methods which were used to get to an indicative, prioritised highways programme. Councillor Bicknell explained that SCRIM and SCANNER surveys were both trade brands for surveying for skid resistance and profiling of the surface of the roads and footpaths, which were owned by WDM Ltd of Bristol, whom the council contracted for the data. He highlighted Appendix A which included about 16 of the current wards in the borough. The biggest scheme for £259,000 was for Old Windsor, along with the other new schemes of work in the area amounting to £317,000..

The Find and Fix fund of £200,000 was new to the council as the contract with Volker highways currently included a fix time of up to 3 months for fixing non urgent items. Now the council could deal with such unsightly or aesthetic issues, particularly in high profile areas, within 10 days.

Councillor Jones welcomed the investment in the borough’s roads. She had previously raised the problems with the A308 gyratory, which had deteriorated recently. She therefore welcomed the repairs before winter.  She requested clarification on the costs of borrowing over the life of the loan period.

Councillor Coppinger thanked the Lead Member on behalf of the residents of Bray for the work undertaken in the ward.

Councillor Da Costa commented that he was disappointed that the report had not been considered by the Highways, Transport and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel, however he welcomed the money being spent on assets especially as a number of roads and pavements had been in an appalling state for a number of years. The 2015 Highways Asset Management Report stated that to improve roads the figure of £3.3m  would have to be spent each year to bring the roads up to standard. He asked how much had been planned to be spend on resurfacing alone in 2018/19 and when would the suggestion of £3.3m per year be taken?

Councillor Saunders commented as the report could be scrutinised at Full Council by all Members there was no need for it to go to an Overview and Scrutiny Panel. He explained that all capital projects had attributed to them an interest charge whether or not borrowing occurred. In terms of whether this was required, the information could be found in the monthly financial update to Cabinet. The only significant borrowing at the present time was that undertaken by the previous administration.

Councillor McWilliams welcomed the resurfacing of three key roads in his ward of Cox Green, which had originally been in the reserve list. He was delighted they had been brought forward.

Councillor Sharma commented that the last meeting of the Highways, Transport and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel had been held on 21 June 2018. Councillor Da Costa had submitted his apologies for the meeting so had missed his opportunity to scrutinise the report. Councillor Sharma commented that he drove between 8-10 hours everyday; the borough was probably the best council for resurfacing. He liked the find and fix approach which was an innovative idea.

Councillor Hilton commented that the residents of Ascot would be delighted with the investment in roads in the area, specifically Winkfield Road which had a poor surface. Heavy transport used the road therefore resurfacing would lessen the noise nuisance for the properties that were situated close to the road. He highlighted that across the borough only 5% of principal roads required maintenance, compared to 17% ten years previously.

Councillor Grey commented that the residents of Datchet would be very grateful for the investment in the ward.

Councillor Jones commented that she did not feel she had received an answer to her question how much was it going to cost out of the revenue budget to pay for the loan required. She wanted to know how long the borrowing would be for and if it was not required, from where would the capital receipt come?

Councillor Saunders responded that there were attributable interest charges to all capital budgets. The actual interest charge was based on the rolling cash flow which was reported monthly to Cabinet. There was no linkage to any particular capital project. The current interest charges related only to the borrowing taken out by the previous administration.

Councillor Dudley highlighted the graphs that showed a lack of investment under the previous administration and a fundamental change with the current one.

Councillor E. Wilson commented that he was delighted a further four roads in Dedworth were included in the programme of works. He referred to St Mungo who featured on the Glasgow coat of arms, in relation to the Find and Fix programme.

Councillor Beer stated that he was pleased to see a large amount of money being spent in Old Windsor. The entire A308 gyratory was cracked and therefore the works dramatically needed to be done. The A308 was the busiest road in the borough.

Councillor Hollingsworth commented that the schemes were wonderful. He had used the old reporting system which he had found to be simple but had had some difficulties with the new system. He therefore requested it be simplified.

Councillor Sharma commented that the Highway, Transport and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Panel held on 21 June 2018 had not considered the report and he therefore apologised to Councillor Da Costa for his earlier comments.

Councillor Bicknell commented that the reporting process had been simplified and was well-used by residents. The council should be proud that it ranked eight out of 113 councils however there was still work to do, which was the reason for the proposal to spend £1.7m and remove the reserve list for the following year.

Councillor Jones highlighted that the issue of the A308 gyratory had been raised 18 months previously but had been put back because other works had been happening.

It was proposed by Councillor Bicknell, seconded by Councillor Dudley, and:

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Council

i. Approves an increase to the capital programme 2018/19 by £1,700,000 to deliver the supplementary road resurfacing programme set out in

Appendix A and the pilot ‘Find and Fix’ approach.

ii. Delegates authority to the Deputy Director Strategy and Commissioning, in consultation with the Lead Member for Highways & Transport, to agree minor amendments to the approved schemes (within approved budgets) and implement substitute schemes should this become necessary.