Issue - meetings

To seek approval of BCP Council’s harmonised Highway Inspection Policy to ensure the council meets its responsibilities in line with the Code of Practice ‘Well managed highway infrastructure’ 2016.

The developed Highway Inspection Policy is the primary evidence used by the authority in any defence against third party claims on the highway, under Section 41 or 58 of the Highways Act 1980.

Highway safety inspections are designed to ensure the network is safe and routinely checked for defects, which may have the potential to create injury or disruption to users of the highway network. The current Code of Practice recommends that the safety inspection and defect repair regimes should be based on risk, in accordance with local needs, context and priorities. There are no longer prescriptive or minimum standards published at which an authority should intervene and repair a defect. It is for local authorities to determine appropriate levels of service and be able to demonstrate clearly what has informed that approach.

RESOLVED that: -

(a)           the proposed Highway Inspection Policy as set out in Appendix 1 aligned to the Code of Practice ‘Well managed Highway Infrastructure’ be approved; and

(b)           the Director of Environment in consultation with the Director of Finance and Portfolio Holder for Environment be delegated to make operational adjustments to the Policy because of Code of Practice amendments and/or risks identified with the Councils insurers.

Voting: Unanimous

Portfolio Holder: Environment, Cleansing and Waste

Reason

To provide and consolidate a unified approach to Highway Inspections across the BCP Council geographical area in accordance with the published Code of Practice.

The Highway Inspection Policy is a live document that will be monitored on a continual basis. Refining our approach and revising the document is inevitable and by delegating authority to the Service Director for Environment in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Environment will enable necessary changes to be made swiftly.

The Portfolio Holder for Environment, Cleansing and Waste presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

Cabinet was asked to approve BCP Council’s harmonised Highway Inspection Policy to ensure the council meets its responsibilities in line with the Code of Practice ‘Well managed highway infrastructure’ 2016.

In relation to this Cabinet was advised that the developed Highway Inspection Policy is the primary evidence used by the authority in any defence against third party claims on the highway, under section 41 or 58 of the Highways Act 1980.

Further to this Cabinet was informed that highway safety inspections are designed to ensure the network is safe and routinely checked for defects, which may have the potential to create injury or disruption to users of the highway network. In addition, Cabinet was informed that the current Code of Practice recommends that the safety inspection and defect repair regimes should be based on risk, in accordance with local needs, context and priorities. There are no longer prescriptive or minimum standards published at which an authority should intervene and repair a defect. It is for local authorities to determine appropriate levels of service an be able to demonstrate clearly what has informed that approach.

RESOLVED that: -

(a)           the proposed Highway Inspection Policy as set out in Appendix 1 aligned to the Code of Practice ‘Well managed Highway Infrastructure’ be approved; and

(b)           the Director of Environment in consultation with the Director of Finance and Portfolio Holder for Environment be delegated to make operational adjustments to the Policy because of Code of Practice amendments and/or risks identified with the Councils insurers.

Voting: Unanimous

Portfolio Holder: Environment, Cleansing and Waste

To consider the following Environment, Cleansing and Waste related reports scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 28 July 2021:

•   Council Highway Inspection Policy

The O&S Board is asked to scrutinise the reports and make recommendations to Cabinet as appropriate.

Cabinet member invited to attend for this item: Councillor Mark Anderson, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Cleansing and Waste

The Cabinet report for this item is included with the agenda for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

Council Highway Inspection Policy - The Portfolio Holder for Environment, Cleansing and Waste presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these minutes in the Minute Book. The Portfolio Holder outlined the main issues within the report and responded to a number of issues raised by the Board including:

·     The network hierarchy was based on how important places are to the network but was the likely risk of flooding also taken into account. It was noted that this was a fairly complex situation. FCERM – Flood and Coastal Risk Management team liaise with Wessex water on capacity issues of the network The Portfolio Holder urged anyone who had been flooded to advise the flooding manager who would ensure that preventative action was taken concerning the drainage network.

·     The flooding forecast reaction was based on forecast weather but was there a protocol in place to ensure that areas prone to flooding were proactively checked to ensure drains and gullies were clear. Additional gully cleansing equipment had been procured. There was only capacity to inspect around a third to half of gullies on the network and it can be complex to work on these including closing roads. Gully inspectors would identify areas of the network which may cause additional problems.

·     What was meant by White Line Inspections being reactive only. These were inspected visually by highways inspectors. Special devices attached to a vehicle check how reflective white lines are at night-time. This had just been undertaken and results were awaited.

·     Defective signs which were missing, illegible or damaged, would it be possible to clean some of the signs as they were currently given a low priority but looked awful. As part of the Safer Cleaner Greener Strategy there would be additional funding for cleaning signs and there was also a plan in place to look at which signs were a priority.

·     Sink holes appeared to be becoming a more common occurrence and whether anything needed to be changed to reflect an increased risk. The Board was advised that there was no recorded increase in sinkholes, and these tended to be random.

·     Concern was raised about the inspection routine for footpaths and cycleways in terms of things being overgrown and the priority given to dealing with potholes on the cycle network.  The Council were attempting to address this by inspectors walking the network which would hopefully lead to them identifying more of these issues.

·     Pavements had been ruined by incremental works done to residential properties. This was a problem which was difficult to rectify particularly as it was difficult to identify who was responsible for damage occurring. In some instances, developers came forward to put things right, but this was not always the case.

·     Line painting was necessary in a number of areas around the conurbation. A new contractor had been appointed in May of this year and they were more receptive than previous contractors but there was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48