Decision details

To announce the results of the distribution of the Local Transport Plan (LTP) Area Board ‘Substantive Highway Scheme’ budget of £250,000 in 2023/24.

I approve that the results of the Substantive Highway Scheme funding mechanism as set out in Appendix 2 be approved.

This decision was published on 30 March 2023 and will come into force on 11 April 2023.

There needs to be a mechanism for delivering Area Board transport scheme priorities that exceed the Area Board’s available discretionary highway budget and are unable to be implemented in phases over time.  The agreed methodology and the application of the Substantive Highway Scheme Bid Evaluation Formula has resulted in eight scheme bids being awarded Substantive Highway Scheme funding in the 2023/24 financial year.

The mechanism that was approved in July 2011 for distributing the Substantive Highway Scheme Fund awards funding according to value for money and deliverability.  Under this mechanism, value for money is the ratio of the cost and benefit of the prospective scheme and deliverability is an assessment of how challenging a scheme would be to implement within a given financial year, considering technical, legal/procedural, operational, financial and public factors.  Appendix 1 sets out the Substantive Highway Scheme Bid Evaluation Formula incorporating the above.

Eleven valid bids were received in this bidding round, and these have been scored using the Substantive Highway Scheme Bid Evaluation Formula with the results set out in Appendix 2.  A further bid was deemed ineligible, and this is also shown in Appendix 2 along with the reason why it was discounted. The sum of the valid bids exceeds the proposed allocation for the Substantive Highway Scheme Fund in 2023/24.

All of the valid bids have been scored using the Substantive Highway Scheme Bid Evaluation Formula which ranks the schemes according to cost-benefit and deliverability.  It is proposed that Substantive Highway Scheme funding be awarded to the top eight bids which scored best according to cost benefit and deliverability.  The results are set out in Appendix 2 with the successful schemes highlighted in bold.

The sum of the estimated cost of delivering the eight schemes comes within the £250,000 Substantive Highways Scheme fund level leaving a £1,600 contingency.

The Cabinet Member report that outlined and approved the mechanism for applying for Substantive Highway Scheme funding was circulated to all Members and Community Area Managers in July 2011.  In addition, informal consultation on the Substantive Highway Scheme funding mechanism and the opportunity to bid for funding has taken place at the Area Board Community Area Transport Group, now Local Highway & Footway Improvement Group meetings since that time.