Agenda item

As part of the Committee’s ongoing scrutiny engagement with the highways and transport portfolio, the Committee has historically been receiving an annual review of service report for highways. The previous report was received on 5 November 2019, and the Committee will now consider the service report for 2020.

The Committee considered the report of the Director Highways and Environment, which provided an update on the highways service including the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Director Highways and Environment reported that the highways service and its suppliers adapted well to the challenges of Covid-19 and the associated restrictions. Changes to working practices and reprioritising of work meant that it was possible to complete a large programme of various types of maintenance and renewal on the highway network in the last year.

The Director commented on:

·       Essential maintenance and improvement work continuing during the lockdown with more potholes being filled in 2020 than in the previous year.

·       Major road resurfacing work, drainage repairs and bridge maintenance undertaken whilst traffic flows were reduced.

·       Procurement of major new contracts for road resurfacing, surface dressing and tree maintenance were also successfully undertaken during the year.

·       Good performance of the Council’s existing key highway contractors  during 2020.

·       A summary of the Performance Management Framework attached to the report, with the number of killed and seriously injured on the county’s roads remaining a major concern.

·       Public satisfaction with most aspects of the highway service generally remaining close to the national average. However, public satisfaction with road maintenance and walking and cycling remaining slightly below the national average.

Cllr Bridget Wayman, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Waste and officers responded to a number of issues and comments from the Committee. In particular, the following issues and comments were raised:

·       Changes to verge cutting introduced in order to encourage wildflowers and wildlife, with visibility splays being cut in May/June and the remainder of verges being cut in September as a trial along the A350. A successful trial would see this rolled out across the highway network.

·       The trialling of new equipment to repair pot holes

·       The need for increasing investment to repair pot holes and issues with funding constraints and weather patterns.

·       The impact of COVID-19 on housing development sites and in particular S106 funding.

·       Indicators used to measure the performance of the service and gauge continuous service improvements.

·       User satisfaction surveys by MORI with outcomes being measured and benchmarked against other local authorities, with average scores being achieved across many areas..

·       Encouraging an increase in the number of cyclists and the development of schemes ready to apply for government funding once available in the future.

·       Key performance indicators for accidents – people killed and seriously injured and the complexity in controlling collisions through engineering, enforcement and education.

·       Traffic management measures in place on the Bradford on Avon Town Bridge to facilitate social distancing during the first lockdown and their impact on vehicle emissions.

·       The use of auto speed watch by Town and Parish Councils and potential for information to be shared with the Council, although the challenge for the Council is the number of queries generated by the technology when compared to speedwatch.  

·       The availability of cycle schemes funding from Highways England and opportunities to bid for cycle schemes in Wiltshire.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member and officers for attending the meeting and responding to comments and issues raised.

Resolved:

1.    Welcome the Wiltshire Highways Annual Review of Service 2020 and acknowledge the considerable work being undertaken on the highway network in these difficult times;

2.    Thank the Council’s highway contractors for the steps they have taken in ensuring that essential highway maintenance and improvements work in Wiltshire have continued safely despite Covid-19;

3.    Congratulate the Council’s highways team, Atkins, Tarmac and Ringway on winning the Institute of Collaborative Working Public Sector award for 2020;

4.    Note the continuing concern that the numbers killed and seriously injured on the county’s roads during 2019 were above the road safety target, and that there is a need to continue to prioritise road safety;

5.    Request a report on the highways service and the Performance Management Framework in a year’s time.