Contact: Richard Chinn, Tel 023 80 427000 email [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report outlines progress with regard to the 2003/04 Highway Maintenance and Minor Capital Works programmes and gives an update on the 2003/04 Highway Maintenance budget.

2. Background

2.1 As previously reported, the Highway Maintenance programme is funded from both revenue and capital allocations.

2.2 The revenue maintenance programme funds minor works, such as pothole repairs and routine drainage work, including gully cleaning, signs and road markings, environmental maintenance of grass verges, trees and shrubs, weed control and highway emergencies. Minor bridge works and winter maintenance are also funded from revenue. Budget allocations are set at a level that ensures the safety and serviceability of the highway network.

2.3 The capital maintenance programme funds planned maintenance, including special maintenance, resurfacing and surface dressing, and also provides for essential repairs to the structure of the highway.

3. Highway Maintenance Budget and Programme 2003/04

3.1 The Highway Maintenance budget for 2003/04, approved by the Executive Member for Environment, is £46,515,000. This sum comprises £19,241,000 revenue funding and £27,274,000 funding from the capital programme provision.

Revenue Maintenance Budget and Programme

3.2 The total revised allocation for New Forest for 2003/04 is £1,008,000. Progress throughout the year has been in line with the spend profile and it is expected that the programme will be completed within time and budget constraints. A budget monitoring statement is attached as Appendix 1.

3.3 The revenue maintenance programme funds three main areas of highway maintenance:

(i) reactionary minor repair works on the road and footway network;

(ii) minor traffic management improvements of signs and road markings; and

(iii) the environmental aspects of highway maintenance, including grass cutting, weed treatment, and tree and shrub maintenance.

3.4 Additional revenue budgets are held centrally for the performance elements of the County Council's term maintenance contract. The performance based work contained in the contract includes:

(i) gully emptying;

(ii) visibility splay grass cutting;

(iii) winter maintenance;

(iv) routine bridge maintenance; and

(v) `A' road routine maintenance.

Capital Maintenance Budget and Programme

3.5 The total allocation for New Forest for 2003/04 is £2,065,000, which includes £316,000 from the £3.5 million county-wide additional funding previously reported. The funding allocation for the capital maintenance `planned works' programme is based on the proven HAMP rating system and reflects the agreed intervention levels. The HAMP rating intervention level directs funding to those maintenance schemes displaying a higher maintenance need. Planned structural maintenance repairs undertaken through the capital maintenance programme include surface dressing, special maintenance and resurfacing schemes.

3.6 This year's schemes are progressing well with the expectation that the `planned' maintenance programme will be delivered within time and budget constraints. However, it is anticipated that a small number of lower priority schemes may have to be deferred into the first quarter of 2004/05 as a consequence of the need to complete high priority drainage schemes elsewhere in the area, where unforeseen engineering problems have been encountered. Progress on this year's schemes is shown in Appendix 2.

3.7 The capital maintenance programme also supports the centrally controlled areas of work, including major maintenance schemes and bridge maintenance.

3.8 Surface dressing is an extremely cost-effective way of prolonging the life of the carriageway, sealing cracks and restoring skid resistance. The total budget county-wide of £3,297,000 is managed centrally and for 2003/04 supported a HAMP intervention level of 50 on the principal road network. High performance surface dressing on the non-principal roads has a HAMP intervention level of 60 and 70 for the urban and minor roads programme respectively. All sites on this year's programme for the New Forest have now been successfully treated. This year's schemes are listed in Appendix 2.

4. Minor Capital Works

4.1 The Minor Capital Works programme (also known as the Under £10,000 programme) is funded from the capital allocation based on the Local Transport Plan submission to the Department for Transport. A sum of £25,000 was allocated for the New Forest area in 2003/04 and the schemes included in the programme are:

(i) Bashley Road, Bashley - new footway and £5,000

verge works

(ii) B3055 Arnewood Bridge Road, Sway - new £8,000

footway

(iii) C111 Vaggs Lane, Hordle - new footway £7,000

(iv) U145 Lime Kiln Lane, Fawley - new footway £5,000

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Total £25,000

These schemes are scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

8197/R