Agenda item

David Burton, Director of Streetpride, and Stephen Finley, Highway Asset Management Principal Engineer, presented a report on the arrangements for managing highway safety defects (potholes) together with background information on budgets/costs and the number of defects dealt with over the last 5 years.

Attention was drawn to:-

-        2012/13 Highway Maintenance budget was £4,474,932

-        Safety defect repairs (potholes) were funded from the Revenue Basic Maintenance allocation - £450,000.  This type of repair was classified as reactive.  Methods to reduce the number and increase planned non-reactive repairs were actively pursued

-        Expenditure on potholes over the last 5 years had increased significantly from £1/4M in 2007/08 to approximately £1/2M 2012/13

-        Additional funding provided by the Department of Transport to deal with the impact of the severe weather in 2009/10 and 2010/11

-        The Council was responsible for a highway network of 1,189km and 1,680km of footway

-        Defects categorised as either ‘immediately dangerous’ – made safe within 4 hours – or ‘actionable’ – made safe within 24 hours

-        The ‘industry standard’ method for dealing with safety defects was to sweep out the defect, place in the appropriate material, and compacted by hand.  As many roads were traffic sensitive, it was essential that the defect repairs were completed quickly on site to reduce the health and safety to operatives otherwise road closures may be required

-        Consideration was being given to taking a different approach to dealing with defects by ‘planing’ out the potholes and immediate surrounds to eliminate the immediate danger and returning several days later to complete a permanent repair

-        Condition surveys were carried out on all roads/footways as part of the longer term maintenance plan.  This gave a condition and suggested treatment for the road in question.  The condition of the Council’s network had for some years been in the upper quartile; it was expected that it would fall into the 2^nd quartile in the 2012 survey

-        Work was bundled up in an area which may include pre-patching for surface treatments, small patching works and larger type schemes.  This allowed the Delivery Team to “set up camp” in that area to maximise efficiency.  Liaison also took place with other Teams to carry out works at the same time

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised:-

o       Meadowbank Road had been the subject of a Gateway Scheme with its footways the focus of treatment but the carriageway not.  Patching had been carried out to get rid of the defects.  A bid had been submitted to the Department of Transport to hopefully carry out super patching

o       When considering the condition of the network extra criteria was also used e.g. G.P. surgery, identified by Ward Members

o       Utility companies – regular inspections carried out of reinstatement works.  Utilities were legally responsible for up to 2 years

o       The forward schedule was updated weekly.  It was a fluid programme but attempted to stick to the schemes selected for that year.  If, when on site, a site was found to have deteriorated greatly from the previous inspection and caused the works to take longer than anticipated, any schemes delayed would automatically be added to the next programme

o       Road Traffic Accidents – the cost of road sweeping after an accident would be approximately £50.  It was not felt to be financially viable to try and recover the cost together with the difficulties in getting information from the Police due to data protection.  However, if it was a major traffic  accident and the costs of clearing the road much higher, attempts would be made to recover the costs

o       Surface dressing – Residents and some Ward Members did not like it as it caused disruption to the road network.  Other products were used which were economical and did not cause disruption

o       To bring the Borough’s roads up to standard would cost in the region of £70-90M

o       Review of gateways

Resolved:-  (1) That the report be noted.

(2) that a report on the effectiveness of the new method of repairs potholes be submitted in due course.