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Agenda item

Local Highways Investment Fund 2014 - 2020

Bill Parks and Jim Bailey, from Wiltshire Council, will present the list of the highways improvement works proposed in the Malmesbury Area.

 

The Area Board is asked to:

 

i)             Note the progress report on the Local Highways Investment Fund 2014-17

ii)            Review the proposals for future works and to recommend any amendments or potential future sites to the Highways Asset Management Team for further investigation

Minutes:

Bill Parks, Head of Service for Highways North, and Jim Bailey, Highways Principal Technical Officer, from Wiltshire Council, provided an update of the work done on highways in the Malmesbury Area in 2016/17 and presented a list of proposed improvement works for 2017/18.

 

Bill Parks encouraged members of the public to make use of the council app for reporting potholes and other highway maintenance issues. He reported that the parish steward scheme continued to have been positive and that there would be a series of meetings with Cllr Philip Whitehead, Cabinet member for transport which members of town and parish councils were encouraged to attend.

 

The Chairman highlighted that a phone call to report a highways issue cost the council around £5 while use of the app cost only around 5p and this was why its use was being so heavily promoted.

 

Jim Bailey explained the context of the Local Highways Investment Fund and reported that a budget of £21milion had been allocated for the period 2014-2020 for road maintenance schemes and that substantial improvement had already been seen to the road network. The officer then presented the list of proposed works for 2017/18 as outlined in Appendix 2 of the report.

 

The Chairman invited questions from the floor and the following points were raised and clarified: that Wiltshire Council had taken on the management of highways contracts from Balfour Beaty; that since the start of the Investment fund the percentage of roads (of all classifications) in bad condition had reduced significantly and that it had made ongoing monitoring of road conditions easier to manage; that the focus of the scheme was predominately on roads but that pavements could also be considered in the remaining years of the fund; that the repair of potholes was prioritised based on their depth and on the classification of the road; that the condition of A roads was assessed annually by a private contractor and the worst sections were then prioritised for repair and that patching sometimes took place as an interim measure; that the initial assessment of highways in the Malmesbury Area done in 2014 had led to the development of a priority list and the list of which schemes were taken forward each year was decided annually; and that different types of highway repair carried different costs and the priority was on making roads safe for users.

 

In reference to specific highways in the Malmesbury area, it was clarified: that the section of road between Corston and Malmesbury which had been identified in the list of proposed works had originally been designated for resurfacing but that a re-assessment would take place before work commenced to check whether this was still the best option; and that the road surface of the roads affected by the new traffic calming measures introduced in Oaksey would be considered among the other aspects of road safety in the area. It was also suggested that the Tetbury roundabout would benefit from resurfacing and new markings and signage, and the officers agreed to give this consideration.

 

After discussion it was

 

Resolved:

 

To note the progress report on the Local Highways Investment Fund 2014-17 and to approve the list of proposed works for 2017/18 as outlined in Appendix 2 of the report

Supporting documents: