Members considered an update on progress relating to improved highway asset management and the proposed Highway Asset Management Plan (HAMP).

The Lead Member explained that asset management was the way an organisation managed its assets to deliver its strategic priorities and service needs effectively.

Highway asset management:

·         assessed the status of highway assets

·         identified need

·         indicated the level of investment required to maintain, and improve our performance

Members noted that borough highway assets included:

·         Roads Network:                    603km (375 miles)

·         Footways:                              800km

·         Bridges/Structures:              300+

·         Street Lights etc:                  17,000+

·         Traffic Signals:                     57 sites

·         Road Drains:                                    26,000+

·         Public Rights of Way:         300+km

·         Highway Trees:                    40,000+

The Lead Member explained that a Highway Asset Management Plan contained:

·         Strategy

·         Objectives and targets

·         Investment options

·         Inspection regimes

·         Treatments and intervention levels

Three documents formed the proposed RBWM Highway Asset Management Plan:

·         A Highway Asset Management Strategy.

·         A Highway Maintenance Management Plan.

·         A Highway Safety Inspection Manual

The borough needed a Highway Asset Management Plan to ensure it was able to obtain as much external grant as possible. If the council did not have a Highway Asset Management Plan it would lose some of the government grant allocation for 2016/17 and an increasing amount in the following years.

It was also likely to be a key factor in any ad-hoc grant allocation that may be made available from the Department for Transport (DfT).

A HAMP was also needed to ensure spending was focussed on need from surveys and condition data, and on desired outcomes by using investment models and choosing appropriate treatments. This would enable the council to continue to maintain or improve the condition of the roads in the borough. The council also had to show the government it was improving resident satisfaction:

In order to meet the DfT criteria to maximise grant funding for 2016/17 RBWM had to have an adopted HAMP which had been endorsed by the executive of the Council. The self-assessment form marking the criteria was due to be sent to DfT at the end of January 2016.

Alongside the new strategy document the proposed HAMP included thoroughly reviewed and revised inspection and maintenance standards and intervention levels. If the HAMP was not adopted the council was unlikely to be in the most robust position to defend claims.

The investment modelling undertaken for the road network used historical data regarding capital spend, reactive maintenance costs and trends in the condition of roads to produce a range of options. The recommendation in the strategy was to increase spend to £2.372m per year in order to maintain current road condition across all classification of roads.

If the HAMP was approved and adopted:

·        Responses on the DfT self-assessment form could be confirmed and sent. This would enable the council to obtain all available grant funding indicated for 2016/17.

·        The adopted HAMP would be published to the RBWM website.

·        Activities would be undertaken so that RBWM could meet the higher criteria set by the DfT and optimise grant funding in future years as the requirements increased.

Members noted current performance and delivery statistics:

• Over £9m spent on road maintenance over the past 4 years
• The percentage of roads where maintenance should be considered had been cut by more than half over the past 5 years
• In 2014/15, 31 miles of road were resurfaced and over 11,000 potholes were fixed through the ‘Pothole Challenge’ initiative
• Almost 100% of dangerous potholes were repaired and made safe within 24 hours of being reported

The Chairman highlighted from paragraph 2.8 of the report that since 2007/08, the Royal Borough has cut the percentage of roads where maintenance should be considered from 17% to 5% for principal roads and from 19% to 6% for non-principal roads, while average figures across England increased slightly. The borough was in good shape compared t its neighbours but it was important not to rest on its laurels. The Lead Member for Education commented that he was particularly pleased with the figures relating to resident satisfaction on page 61 of the report. He congratulated the team.

The Lead Member explained that when the council undertook road maintenance it wrote to all utility companies to ask them to do routine repairs before resurfacing. Unfortunately this did not cover emergency repairs. Utilities had up to one year to put a road right, in the interim a temporary repair could be in place that was not of the same quality A report would be brought to Cabinet in March 2016 to address the issue..

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Cabinet:

i)     Endorse the strategy, policy and guidance set out in the report and documents and formally adopts the Highway Asset Management Plan.