Agenda item

                 Report by Chief Executive Officer – Place – Alistair Cunningham

Cllr Bridget Wayman outlined the report.

A statement and two questions were received from Mr Chris Caswill, re “Who will oversee the staff restructuring foreseen in the Transport papers” and “Do you anticipate it leading to any redundancies? Is that the intention”

The Leader thanked Mr Caswill for his comments and confirmed that  responses had been prepared on the issues raised and a copy had been sent to Mr Caswill and also published on the Council’s website.

A statement and two questions were received from Anne Henshaw, representing Campaign to Protect Rural England, re “With climate change there is a need to consider a better use of roads with more public transport, car-sharing, working locally or from home and more long haul freight going by rail “and “The repairs and improvements needed to existing road networks of all categories to make them safe for all users in a wider based travel future”.

The Leader thanked Ms Henshaw for her comments and confirmed that responses had been prepared on the issues raised and a copy had been sent to Ms Henshaw and also published on the Council’s website.

A statement, two questions and two supplementary questions were received from Mr Colin Gale, re How Wiltshire Council can develop a Transport Infrastructure without an agreed ‘Freight Management Strategy’ and If the A350 is going to be Wiltshire Councils designated North-South route how is Wiltshire Council going to manage that route with the freight hauliers and reduce the level of freight on the A342 and A345

The Leader thanked Mr Gale for his comments and confirmed that  responses had been prepared on the issues raised and a copy had been sent to Mr Gale and also published on the Council’s website.

That following recent (and likely continuing) success in bidding for major transport projects, the Council needed to consider its capacity to manage an increasing programme of scheme development and delivery activity.

Whilst the sharp upturn in funding for projects incorporating transport infrastructure was of course welcome, the scale of that increase necessitates a corresponding shift in the Council’s current approach in that regard.

The report illustrated the extent of funded and pending activity and proposed arrangements to ensure that appropriate resource were in place.

Resolved:

1.    Noted the intention to establish a revised internal structure creating a focussed major transport projects development and delivery team.

2.    Noted that recent funding awards were conditional on the Council providing a ‘local contribution’ in terms of both development and construction costs, and agreed the need for suitable financial provision to be made - the final extent of that to be determined once:

·       costs had been finalised 

·       negotiations on the percentage contribution had been agreed with the funding agency and the outcome of all pending bids were known

Reason for the decision

That Wiltshire Council had succeeded in securing funding for a substantial programme of major transport projects that required local funding and resourcing to an extent that could not be delivered within existing budgets and team structures.

The proposals were made to avoid:

·       compromising the Council’s ability to respond convincingly to bidding opportunities

·       compromising the Council’s ability to develop and deliver major transport projects in line with agreed programmes

·       a significant risk that conditional funding secured via external bodies being lost