Agenda item

To consider a report of the Head of Highways.

Following their review of information in the Council’s performance dashboard, the committee had asked for a report on issues around the maintenance of principal and non-principal roads and the approach to funding in this area.

 

The committee considered the issues arising from the report and discussion was held in the following areas:

 

·            Funding issues including lobbying that was taking place with Government to explain the issues linked to being a rural area and to try and improve the funding position for Dorset

·            Benchmarking undertaken and sharing of best practice

·            Issues around the identification and maintenance of gullies was discussed and links to flooding.  It was noted that the Highways Asset Maintenance strategy provided a proportionate response to those issues

·            A proactive highways maintenance team established could potentially take on areas such as road sign cleaning, where capacity was available

·            Discussions were being held with town and parish councils to identify where they could support work in this area, subject to risk assessment

·            The Highways Asset Maintenance strategy took traffic data into account and an inspection regime of roads was also undertaken.

 

At 10.44am, the Chairman announced that the committee would adjourn to allow those present to attend the NHS, Social Care and Frontline Workers’ Day Ceremony.

 

The committee reconvened at 11.19am.

 

Discussion continued with points raised as follows:

 

·            The potential impact of a five-year funding deal was considered

·            Issues around maintenance and liability for potholes

·            Computer modelling that could be done to predict future degradation of roads and potential intervention

·            Issues around skid resistance

·            Reference to the impact of inflation in this area – the risk was mitigated through contingency in the budget

·            The council owned most fleet and plant equipment used although may hire in equipment for specific projects – there was a programme of regular inspection and replacement of equipment

·            Materials such as hardcore could be recycled into other projects so would not be disposed of into landfill

·            Issues around performance monitoring were considered.

 

The Chairman provided a summary of the key points arising from the discussion as follows:

 

·            The need to monitor gully clearance and that this should include liaison between the community highways officers and parish councils to ensure the location of gullies were identified

·            The committee noted the funding position in this area over a number of years and highlighted the need to continue the lobbying of Government for additional funding – the committee supported the work being undertaken and discussions taking place with local MPs in this area

·            Concerns expressed over bus service provision linked to the rural nature of the area and accessibility issues and the need to find a solution

·            Concern expressed over the future maintenance of cycle ways and the formula used to determine

·            The need to ensure the Council had the right types of vehicles for works required

·            Further investigation suggested as to whether items such as the cleaning of signs could be undertaken by the Highways proactive response team, where there was capacity.

 

Further information was requested as follows:

 

·            Further information to be sought relating to paragraph 4.30 ‘Street Lighting’ in Appendix 2 to the report, and in respect of missing information on performance indicators.

 

The Chairman thanked officers for the report and asked that thanks be passed on to all officers working in this area.