Contact: Richard Chinn, tel 02380 427000

1. Summary

1.1 This report outlines the Highways Maintenance budget county-wide and the specific budget and works programme for Test Valley.

2. Background

2.1 The Highways Maintenance budget for 2002/03, approved by the Executive Member for Environment on 15 April 2002, is £38,895,000. This sum comprises £18,783,000 revenue funding and £20,112,000 funding from the capital programme provision. This sum is £2,000,000 lower than the original provision for capital maintenance in 2001/02 because that year's allocation was boosted by resources which were transferred from the transportation element of the capital programme. This transfer was made in order to help achieve an overall transport spending performance in line with the capital provision.

2.2 The road hierarchy in relation to maintenance budgets consists of the motorway and trunk road network, principal and non-principal roads. The trunk road network, including motorways, are major routes of national importance managed by the Highways Agency on behalf of the Department for Transport. Principal roads are all the remaining A class roads which are not trunk roads, whilst non-principal roads are all other adopted highways. In Test Valley there are four roads forming the motorway and trunk road network (M27, A34, A36, A303) and all other A class roads are principal roads.

Term Maintenance Contract

2.3 The budget allocation for 2002/03 reflects the impact of the prices which will be paid in the new term maintenance contract which commenced on 1 May 2002. This has required the transfer of funding between different elements of Highway Maintenance work to account for different pricing methods under the new contract.

Highway Network Management Reorganisation (Blue Print)

2.4 The implementation of the new highway network management arrangements, with the creation of local offices, has had an impact on the allocation of the Highways Maintenance budget between the various budget holders. The allocation detailed below reflects these organisational changes.

2.5 In order to meet various Government targets, and in particular one relating to the condition of the highway network, Hampshire County Council recently signed up to a Local Public Service Agreement with the Government. If successful, a grant of up to £1.7 million may be available to further improve the network in line with the 10 year plan. However in order to achieve the requisite targets set out in the agreement priorities will need to be carefully considered to ensure funding is spent in the most cost effective way.

3. Highways Maintenance Revenue Budget (£18,800,000)

3.1 The budget allocations within ordinary maintenance (routine maintenance, aids to movement and environmental maintenance), have been maintained at a level to ensure that the safety of the highway network is preserved. The pricing of the new contract has resulted in elements of this work, particularly gully cleansing, environmental maintenance and precautionary salting, becoming significantly more expensive, whilst other areas of work have reduced in price. It has been necessary therefore to move funding within the total budget allocations to reflect these price changes.

3.2 Additional funding has been provided to cover the anticipated growth in the provision of intelligent transport systems during the year. There will also be an enhanced programme aimed at dealing with the backlog of refurbishment to traffic signals.

4. Street Lighting

4.1 The award of the contract for the supply of un-metered electricity for street lighting, signs and traffic lights to Scottish and Southern Energy was approved by the Executive Member for Environment on 10 September 2001. The contract, which reflects a 95% brown/5% green energy mix, began on 1 April 2002. The annual cost of this contract is very close to the price which was paid for 100% brown energy during 2001/02. This contract, which is at a fixed price for two years, represents good value and achieves progress towards the County Council's target of achieving a 90% brown/10% green energy mix by 2010.

4.2 The previous contract for the maintenance of street lighting equipment by David Webster Limited ended in March 2002. A new contract, based on price, quality and added value, has been awarded to Southern Electric Contracting and began on 1 April 2002. The contract will now also include the supply of labour and materials for the column replacement programme. An assessment of the cost of the new contract compared to the previous arrangements has been carried out. This indicates that the cost of the new contract, which is fixed in price for the first year, is lower by 8%, in comparison with the cost of the previous contract during 2001/02.

4.3 The retendering of both these contracts for the supply of energy and maintenance of lighting equipment has resulted in the submission of competitive prices which are broadly equivalent to the costs paid in 2001/02.

5. Highway Systems Development

5.1 Allocations have been made to accommodate the cost of systems currently in development and to progress new systems during 2002/03. These include replacement ordering systems for the term maintenance contract and the street lighting maintenance contract.

6. Highways Maintenance Programme

Capital Maintenance Programme

6.1 The total allocation for Test Valley for 2002/03 is £274,000 for principal roads and £524,000 for non-principal roads.

Revenue Maintenance Programme

6.2 The total allocation for Test Valley for 200/03 is £765,000.

6.3 Details of the 2002/03 budget for Test Valley are set out in Appendix 1 and a list of individual schemes with approximate start dates is attached as Appendix 2.

7. Major Maintenance

7.1 There are no schemes in Test Valley for 2002/03.

8. Special Maintenance

8.1 The need for planned structural repairs to both footways and carriageways continues.

8.2 The funding for 2002/03 in Test Valley supports a HAMP intervention of 80 for the principal road network and approximately 100 for the non-principal road network. This is comparable with the level supported in 2001/02.

9. Resurfacing

9.1 The funding for 2002/03 in Test Valley supports a HAMP intervention of 60 which is comparable with the level support in 2001/02.

10. Surface Dressing

10.1 Surface dressing is an extremely cost effective way of prolonging the life of the carriageway, sealing cracks and restoring skid resistance. The funding for 2002/03 in Test Valley for the principal road network supports a HAMP intervention of 50. High performance surface dressing on the non-principal roads has HAMP intervention of 40 and 60 for the urban and minor roads programme. These interventions show an improvement on the levels supported in 2001/02.

11. Highway Maintenance Programme - Test Valley

11.1 Details of the 2002/03 budget for Test Valley are set out in Appendix 1 and a list of individual schemes with approximate start dates is attached as Appendix 2.

Recommendation

That the report be noted.

7238/RC

APPENDIX 1

Revenue Budget 2002/03
Routine Maintenance (carriageway, footway repairs)	£378,000
Gully Cleansing	£29,000
Aids to Movement (lines and signs)	£93,000
Traffic Management TROs	£4,000
Environmental (grass, trees, shrubs)	£127,000
District Managed Grass	£59,000
Weed Control	£49,000
Hazard Clearance	£26,000
Total:	£765,000
Capital Budget 2002/03 Principal Roads
Principal Roads Routine Structural Repairs	£67,000
Principal Roads Special Maintenance	£51,000
Principal Roads Resurfacing	£156,000
Total:	£274,000
Capital Budget 2002/03 Non Principal Roads
Non Principal Roads Routine Structural Repairs	£451,000
Non Principal Roads Special Maintenance	£10,000
Non Principal Roads Resurfacing	£50,000
Non Principal Roads Tactile Paving Crossing Points	£13,000
Total:	£524,000
Total Maintenance Budget Allocation for Test Valley	£1,563,000