To receive an update from Adrian Hampton, Head of Highways including, grass cutting, verges, pot holes, winter readiness update, the Bulford to Amesbury cycleway, stewards, roadworks update and a general question and answer session.
Minutes:
Adrian Hampton, Head of Local Highways, Streetscene and Parking Services introduced himself to the meeting and gave an update. His role involved the reactive services rather than long term strategic work and his presentation would cover grass cutting, verges, pot holes, a winter readiness update, the Bulford to Amesbury cycleway, stewards and update on roadworks and a questions and answer session.
Grass cutting and verge maintenance was scheduled to take place as follows:
· Urban Land
o Amenity, 7 – 9 cuts a year
o Rough/flail/conservation/wildflower, 1 – 3 cuts a year
· Rural Verges
o Identified single carriageway – 1 cut a year
o Dual carriageways – 2 cuts a year
· Parish Stewards
o As directed by local Council
· Safety
o As required
Mr Hampton explained that Wiltshire Council was responsible for massive amounts of amenity land, the grass in these areas had been scheduled to be cut 9 times a year, but due to the long, hot summer it only needed to be cut 7 times, therefore hedges were cut back instead. Highways staff undertook visual safety inspections of highways to identify any safety issues and cut grass/hedges as required.
Wiltshire Council has a definition of what constitutes a pothole, which is available on the website, therefore it cannot respond if the defect does not fit the description. The council is employing new and innovative ways to deal with pot holes and had won awards for this. For example a velocity sprayer was used in rural areas to fill pot holes. Another innovation was the asphalt recycler that allowed crews to cut a patch of tarmac, reheat it and reuse it to fill pot holes. Some of their vehicles have had HD cameras fitted, the footage from which is analysed by artificial intelligence so that defects in the highway can be detected.
There were a number of major maintenance schemes scheduled for 2018/2019 which included surface treatments, resurfacing, carriageway repairs and retexturing of roads in the Amesbury area. Roads were tested for skid resistance, which is why crews could sometimes be seen fixing very smooth roads. Their aim was to make roads safer and to extend the life of the network.
Reactive patching was also undertaken, these were usually small scale works that once again make roads safer and extend the life of the network. The council budget for reactive spending was £3.5 million. However this year a minimum of £16 million would be spent to keep the network going. The shortfall was currently made up by central government grants et cetera.
Winter preparations were well underway; grit and salt piles were being restocked; salt bins were being remapped and restocked; processes were being reviewed; salting routes were being updated; work was taking place with other councils on cross border routes and contractor plans being developed.
It was stated that Wiltshire Council would be running the Parish Emergency Assistance Scheme (PEAS) again this year. The scheme allows parish councils to pick up materials that will assist during a weather emergency situation. If any parish was interested they should contact the weather team on weather.team@wiltshire.gov.uk as soon as possible for information. Current kits included: 25kg bags of grit, 25kg bags of salt, gel sacs, flood signs, drive slowly through flood water signs, flood warden tabards and snow warden tabards.
The Parish Steward Scheme was explained. Typical works undertaken by Parish Stewards included:
· hand clearing, and cutting of growth from drainage grips and drain gully covers
· hand clearing of blocked gullies
· rodding of drainage systems
· clearing of small culverts, pipes and pits
· clearing storm debris
· trimming encroaching hedges and vegetation from around road signs and railings
· cleaning and straightening small road signs
· hand cutting small visibility areas
· removal of ragwort (hand pulling or strimming of defined areas)
· treatment/removal of weeds
· sanding and painting barriers
· graffiti and fly posting removal
· siding out of footways and carriageways
The Parish Council was to contact the steward to arrange works.
The new Bulford to Amesbury cycleway had recently been completed, however maintenance of the cycleway had become an issue, for example litter picking and verge cutting. Mr Hampton explained that when you move out of urban areas you move into the rural scheme where there are no maintenance schedules. Essentially there was no maintenance other than the statutory requirements for cycleways, which covered occasional litter picking and pothole repair, otherwise there was to be reactive maintenance from the parish stewards scheme who were to cut the grass. A team of people on probation had been deployed to help litter pick. Cllr John Smale stated that the parish steward was unable to mow such a long area of grass in the very limited time they had available. Bulford Parish Council also stated that they were unhappy with the situation. Mr Hampton explained that Wiltshire Council would maintain the cycleway to the statutory level required for rural highways. Unfortunately the expectation people had of what this constituted was too high. Statutory guidelines would be adhered to. If people wanted the cycleway to be maintained to a higher level, then they would need to arrange this. For example by using volunteers undertake the litter picking and maintenance of grass verges. Income was going down and costs were going up meaning that hard choices had to be made, however statutory services would be maintained.
In response to a question from the Chair it was stated that Wiltshire Council has five road sweepers. The priority this year was the main roads and clearing the gullies. It was hoped the primary network would be completed this year and next year the whole network would be swept. It was hard however to commit to timescales as they had to be reactive. Berwick St James Parish Council requested that they be warned 24 hours prior to a sweeper coming through, as they used to be by one of the highways team, so that they could ensure the roads were clear. Mr Hampton stated that it was hard to coordinate when there were so many parishes, however he would try to see what he could do to set up an information link.
In response to questions Mr Hampton stated that there was no programme for the treatment of weeds, however the Parish Stewards may be able to help with this.
Cllr Graham Wright stated that the Parish Stewards were brilliant. Cllr Wright reported he had spoken to Cllr Bridget Wayman, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Waste, regarding Meades Road in Durrington, which due to pot holes could be dangerous for people who did not know they were there. It was requested that Mr Hampton have another look at this road with a view to making temporary or more permanent repairs.
Shrewton Parish Council reported that there was overgrowth on power poles and verges in their parish which covered up road signs. They had raised this issue with CATG but had not heard anything back. Mr Hampton stated that either the Parish Stewards could help or Wiltshire Council could bring in tractors with flails. He would follow up on this.
In response to a question from the Chairman regarding ragwort, Mr Hampton confirmed that removing ragwort is a statutory requirement which was undertaken by the Parish Stewards in June and July. On private land, the landowners should be controlling the ragwort.
Mr Hampton reminded the meeting that the My Wiltshire system could be used to report issues.
The Chairman thanked Mr Hampton for his presentation.