Agenda item

Graeme Hay, Service Manager for Wiltshire Highways, will give a presentation on how the Council maintains pavements across the County, with specific reference to Salisbury.  Councillor Dick Tonge (Cabinet Representative for Highways and Transport) will also be in attendance to answer questions.

The Chairman invited Graeme Hay, Service Manager for Wiltshire Highways to give a presentation on how the Council maintains pavements in Salisbury.

As the local Highways Authority, Wiltshire Council had a duty to maintain the highways within the County.  To this end, roads and footways were inspected on a regular basis, and assessed against the criteria of safety, serviceability, and sustainability.  The frequency of the inspection depended on the status of the road, and some inspections were carried out by vehicle, some on foot.

Faults in the roads and footways could be identified through the inspection regime, or through CLARENCE (the Council’s public hotline for Highways Reporting – 0800 232323).  Such faults would be given a priority rating depending on the severity of the damage against the criteria, and repairs undertaken within a set deadline. 

A significant contributing factor to damage on footways (both Macadam tarmac, and those paved with concrete/stone slabs) was vehicles parking or driving on the surface.  This could be prevented by use of bollards, but this was not always possible in places with narrow, medieval street layouts, such as Salisbury. 

Another cause of defects was tree roots, which could cause cracks and uplift in the surface particularly on Macadam footways.  This was almost impossible to prevent, and expensive to repair, as new root growth would reopen the cracks within a year or two.

In terms of paved footways, cracked slabs would not usually constitute a high priority.  Although unsightly, they were rarely a safety issue and would be expensive to repair.  In contrast, a raised slab, although less of a visual problem, could be a serious safety hazard, and so would require a much higher priority.

Recent initiatives included the practice of replacing missing/loose slabs with matching slabs rather than macadam in order to maintain the visual appearance of the footway.  Another new initiative involved active engagement with utility companies, to remove, store and return slabs which were moved when accessing pipes/cables under the footway.

The Chairman thanked Graeme for his presentation, and welcomed Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet Representative for Highways and Transport, who was in attendance for this item.  Questions and comments were raised as follows:

• The Council welcomed assistance from the public in terms of reporting lorries parked illegally on pavements, as employing officers to enforce this was not cost effective.
• It was noted that, following the recent icy weather, a review was underway to consider the cost benefit of gritting pavements in the light of cost to the Primary Care Trust (PCT) in dealing with injuries from people slipping on ice.  This would involve consultation with Town/Parish Councils.   Councillor Tonge added that in addition to keeping roads clear during the cold weather, the Council had undertaken other, less visible, work to look after vulnerable residents.  This had included driving people to hospital and delivering hot meals.
• 11 miles of footways were surveyed on foot each month in Salisbury, in addition to footways in Amesbury, Wilton, Mere and other local towns. 
• The Chairman commented that she had been out surveying footways with the officers, and other Unitary and Parish/City Councillors were welcome to request to do the same.

The Chairman thanked the Chairman thanked Graeme and Councillor Tonge for their attendance.