Agenda item

To consider issues within the Transport and Infrastructure Portfolio area including the following scheduled for Cabinet consideration on 30 September:

·       Highway Maintenance Funding 2020/21 report

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 Andy Hadley, Portfolio Holder for Transport and Infrastructure

The Cabinet report is attached for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Board.

Highway Maintenance Funding - The Portfolio Holder for Transport and Infrastructure introduced the report, a copy of which had been circulated and which appears as Appendix ‘C’ to the Cabinet minutes of 30 September 2020 in the Minute Book. A number of issues were raised by the Board in the subsequent discussion, including:

·     A Board member asked what paragraph 22 of the report meant in reference to the comment on an increase in maintenance block allocations in future years. The Portfolio Holder advised that we were coming to the end of the three-year period of the pothole fund and the Local Transport Plan and we did not know what the allocations would be for next year. The Council would need to bid into the Challenge Fund – and would find out in December what the allocation would be.

·     In response to a question regarding road maintenance in Christchurch it was noted that historically compared to Bournemouth and Poole it was underfunded. It was noted that the funding in Christchurch was approximately a quarter of that per kilometre compare to the rest of the area. The inspection regime was more frequent for more urban frequently used roads, particularly on bus routes and there were less of these types of roads in Christchurch.

·     A Board member asked about the various repair dates which had fallen behind. The Portfolio Holder advised that this was partly due to the impact of Covid on the supply chain but also due to staff not being available as they had to shield and it was recognised that there was some catching up to do on this.

·     A Board member asked about the uses of the Pothole fund and whether there was a mechanism for Councillors to get more involved in improving roads. It was noted that funding was limited so it was not possible to undertake any major changes under this fund. However, sometimes opportunities arose to carry out repairs in line with transforming cities or other major works and in these cases the team would do its best to manage how and when repairs were completed.

·     A Councillor commented that approximately three years ago some local roads were given a treatment which did not work and have now been resurfaced. In light of this, it was suggested that the O&S Board could look at whether anything had been done to evaluate the different measures of resurfacing. The Portfolio Holder advised that in some cases a road inspector will fill in as a temporary measure for safety issues but in the case referred to there was an issue with a contractor at the time. The Portfolio Holder suggested member seminar on the issue may be useful. The Councillor stated that he was concerned that this was an issue which needed looking into.

·     A Councillor commented that the highways budget included pavements as well as roads but that he couldn’t see pavement improvements included in the report.  The Portfolio Holder advised that pavements were inspected and there was a specific set of funding within the budget.