Meeting documents

To scrutinise what progress is being made on the "Working Together Highways" Initiative in collaboration with the DAPTC.

The Committee considered a report and received a presentation from the Service Director, Highways and Emergency Planning updating on progress being made with the "Working Together Highways" initiative - a partnership arrangement with the Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils which was designed to enable individual parishes and towns to contribute towards and undertake routine highways maintenance works for themselves. The presentation was designed to show how the initiative was working in practice; what, if any, obstacles there were; what part each was playing; how this was being co-ordinated; was it achieving what it was designed to do; and was it delivering on its outcomes.

This approach was based on the fact that the highway’s service routine maintenance funding could now only provide for the delivery of a basic and fundamental service that would fulfil its statuary obligations and ensure the safety of the highway network by that means. It also recognised that local communities  had a considerable knowledge on what assets they had, where these could be found and what was needed for them to function as they should. Such knowledge was invaluable in communities being given the choice to determine for themselves where they considered their priorities to be  and what benefits would be gained.  This initiative also gave local councils the opportunity to undertaken works in excess of those able to be done by the County Council, so that enhancements could be made if desired, with the costs of these being borne by the town or parish council’s precept budgetary provision. 

A consultation exercise into this initiative had been widely publicised in the summer of 2016 and had generated considerable interest from the majority of parishes whom the DAPTC represented. Officers confirmed that this offer had also been extended to those parishes which were not aligned to the Association, ensuring all had the scope to partake if they so wished, with interest being shown by them too. Access to a specialised webpage for parish and town councils to be able to identify the maintenance needs in their parish, had been made available to all.

The presentation detailed what  type of maintenance work could be – and was being – undertaken; how this was being done; what this entailed and who was involved. How contractual agreements would be managed was outlined as well as what necessary legal obligations needed to be fulfilled so that these arrangements complied with governance standards. How risk was assessed, as well as how volunteers could be recruited and managed and what the relationship was for their supervision by County Council employees – at no charge to them - were all detailed as  part of the presentation. This clearly demonstrated the County Council’s commitment to the initiative. 

The means of identifying opportunities to supplement the County Council’s operations were outlined, with four commissioning options being available to parishes as a means of progressing matters. Option 4 – Parish/Town Councils entering into an Agency Agreement with the County Council – had proven to be the most popular, beneficial and practical option for those who had already committed to the scheme. The process for reaching agreement on this was outlined. What maintenance could be done, by whom and by what means was explained as part of the option appraisal process.

The presentation gave a sense of indicative outputs in terms of typical works that could be undertaken, typical costs for these and typical hours required to do said tasks. Those Councils which had signed up to the scheme, or were in the process of signing up, were shared with the Committee together with what works that had agreed to undertake.  It was confirmed that some of the towns that had signed up had made arrangements of with adjoining parishes to undertake minor routine works on their behalf as the town council had the capacity to do so.

There was some concern expressed that standards had been seen to lapse but the reason for this was understood as savings had to be made. However there was an acknowledgement that there was a strong case for continued investment to maintain the quality of the road network to avoid future deterioration - i.e invest to save. Given what the initiative was designed to do, members considered that the reasoning for this should be more readily explained  to local communities and the wider public to ensure they were familiar with that message.

On this the Committee considered it beneficial establishing a Policy Development Panel on Highway Maintenance Management to assess what was being done; how it was being done; what the prioritises were and; what, if any, improvements could be made. It was considered that this was an opportune time to look again at this in light of there being a new code of practice. Likewise, comparisons were made with other highway authorities to establish how the County Council was preforming, with details of this being provided to members. Whilst highway maintenance was fundamentally a revenue issue, capital investment had a bearing on what level of maintenance was necessary and, on that basis, it was agreed that the Dorset LEP should be invited to any meeting where the fabric of the network was being assessed on what capital implications there were.

Given that such an exercise had been undertaken in the recent past, the Panel would be provided with some context as to the reasoning for the decisions previously taken and the basis on which those decision were made so that a more meaningful assessment could be made on what needed to be done.

The Chairman was of the view that emphasis should be given to ensuring that all Dorset MP’s fully advocated the need for sufficient funding to be made available for the delivery of necessary services, with highway maintenance seen to be a priority.

Hilary Trevorah complemented the Service Director’s presentation in being able to provide a  perspective on behalf of the parishes on how the partnership arrangements were working and what benefits this working relationship brought. The issue of how Dorset MP’s supported sufficient funding provision could be raised at a DAPTC management meeting during 2018.

The Committee were pleased to see how successful this initiative was proving to be and that the partnership arrangements with local communities to identify and meet their specific needs was a positive approach being taken. They thanked Mrs Trevorah for the contribution she had made to their understanding.

Resolved

That the progress being made to date with the Working Together Highways Initiative  be endorsed and that a Policy Development Panel on Highway Maintenance Management be established to review what arrangements were in place and how applicable these were to meet the needs going forward, with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman – whose suggestion it was - being nominated to serve on this, with up to three other members to be determined in due course.

Reason for Decision

To ensure that a successful collaborative arrangements between the County Council and local communities was established in relation to the delivery of highway maintenance activities.