The Lead Member for Highways and Transport introduced the report that sought approval to invest a further £1,700,000 into the Royal Borough’s road network.

Cabinet were informed that the Royal Borough had 650km of road network that had been valued at £1.2 billion.  It was right that this asset should be maintained to help maintain high levels of customer satisfaction and to protect users from the risk of injury, loss or damage.

The additional investment would cover road resurfacing, pot holes and other repairs.  £200,000 of the additional resource would fund a pilot ‘Find and Fix’ scheme.  The scheme would increase response times and complete minor repairs.

Cabinet were informed that appendix A showed the additional roads programme that would be brought forward from next year’s programme if the increased funding was approved by Council on 19 July 2018. This would allow additional work to be undertaken this year such as the £259,000 being proposed for Old Windsor for work on the A308 Straight Road, Datchet Road Roundabout.

The Lead Member for Planning and Health mentioned how grateful he was for the £250,000 being invested into his ward; Bray.

The Lead Member for Culture and Communities mentioned that it was great news that the annual National Highways and Transport Benchmarking Survey, the Royal Borough ranked 8th of 113 authorities for customer satisfaction with the highways network. 

The Leader of the opposition welcomed the proposed investment along the A308.  She also asked for confirmation if the council were borrowing the full amount and if the financial implications included the interest.  The Leader replied that the funds were being borrowed and repayments would be made from receipts from the regeneration works.  

The Lead Member for Children’s Services mentioned that it was good news for both residents of Windsor and Old Windsor especially after the boundary review would be changing the wards. 

The Principal Member for Ascot mentioned that there had been investment in a number of A roads during the past year and a number of roads had to have pot holes repaired.  He was pleased to see Winkfield Road on the list as the A road was very busy and the improvements would benefit the residents who live close to the road such as reducing road noise.

The Lead Member for Finance read out comments received from the Lead Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health who had submitted his apologies.  Cllr Carroll had reported that he was pleased to see that after campaigning the schemes at Boyn Hill had been listed.  In addition to the resurfacing of Boyn Hill Road, these included the mouths of Rutland Road and Croxley Rise, Haddon Road, Maple Close, Michael Close, the part of Altwood Road where it connects with Haddon Road and Wootton Way, and East and South Road.  He wished to thank the Lead Member for Highways and Transport for his work with him on identifying the required works.

The Lead Member for Finance reported that he was happy that these reserve items were being brought forward as over time they may have been pushed down the list.  He was happy to see that the list included a number of rural roads in Cookham as a lot of rural roads did not have defined curbs or meaningful drainage.  He was pleased to see rural roads being repaired such as Spring Lane where water sprouts out of a spring all year damaging roads. 

The Principal Member for Housing mentioned that  he was happy to see schemes in Cox Green on the list and that there were plans to introduce the ‘Find and Fix’ scheme.

The Lead Member for Environmental Services said that after the damage caused by bad weather during the winter he was pleased that we were proposing to bring work forward.  He asked how it would be possible to get items added to the list.   Cabinet were informed that all roads were inspected at least once per year and roads were added as required, a new list would be developed for next year and Members were welcome to suggest roads that required work.

The Principal Member for Neighbourhood Planning and Ascot & Sunnings welcomed the work in Ascot and also mentioned that when the Royal Borough inherited the road network from Berkshire County Council they were rated third worst in the country therefore she was pleased to see current satisfaction ratings.

The Chairman mentioned that the charts on agenda page 9 showed how we were improving the road network, the more investment was made the better quality roads are residents would get.  Our residents had high expectations for our roads and this 100% increase in investment for this year would help maintain the network.

Resolved unanimously:  that Cabinet:

·         Recommends to Council that the approved capital programme 2018/19 be increased by £1,700,000 to deliver the supplementary road resurfacing programme set out in Appendix A and the pilot ‘Find and Fix’ approach.

·         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.