Contact: Kevin Fuller, ext 7958 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

That the Highway Maintenance Management Plan be updated to reflect the changes introduced in the national standard document `Delivering Best Value in Highway Maintenance, A Code of Good Practice' introduced in July 2001, be approved by the Executive Member for Environment and adopted by Highway Management.

2. Reason

2.1 This decision supports Aim 2 of the Corporate Strategy (Stewardship of the environment) by ensuring a systematic and consistent approach to the management of the highway network.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected

3.1 Retaining the existing highway maintenance management plan policies would be a departure from the recognised national standard in key areas of service delivery.

4. Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Decision Maker or a Member or Officer consulted - None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the Matter being dealt with if Urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor K B Estlin

7. Background

7.1 The Highway Maintenance Management Plan (HMMP) sets out the highway maintenance policies and procedures to ensure a systematic and consistent approach to the management of the network. The HMMP is subject to regular review and this latest update reflects changes introduced in the national standard `Delivering Best Value in Highway Maintenance'. New concepts have been introduced in the national standard, the key of which is the adoption of an asset management approach to the management of highways. Government resource accounting being introduced in 2006 and beyond requires asset management planning. The HMMP is framed to accommodate this change with a newly defined network hierarchy and new network condition assessment protocols. Further work is required to develop an asset management plan and introduce concepts such as asset valuation, and define practical serviceability intervention levels. This is planned over the next update period. The format of the HMMP has been retained and the bulk of the document is unchanged apart from modifications to simplify, help the understanding and adapt it for electronic view.

7.2 Key changes in the HMMP 2004:

(i) A key change introduced in this edition is a revised maintenance network hierarchy. There is a separation between roads, footways and cycletracks, each with a bespoke network hierarchy to reflect the traffic usage on each of these elements. This change will enable separate consideration of the maintenance criteria for each of these elements.

(ii) The highway inspection arrangements have been fundamentally changed to reflect the separation of highway condition assessment and highway safety inspections. Highway safety inspections have been totally revised in line with the new network hierarchy, and inspection frequencies have been adjusted to meet the requirements of the code. This change has resulted in the need to reorganise the highway inspection operation on the ground and the way in which staff have been deployed. A new computerised inspection recording system has been implemented to meet this change and there is a need to increase the inspection resource. This has been identified in the workforce plan. This change will strengthen the Department's defence in respect of third party claims and facilitate the identification and repair of urgent defects within set time limits.

(iii) The new code refers to the need for a detailed inventory of highway assets and this could be considered to include trees. It is recommended that all trees should be examined annually for potentially dangerous condition. This issue is also highlighted by recent tragic accidents and Court judgements. The HMMP introduces new arrangements to accommodate this.

(iv) The new code `Delivering Best Value in Highway Maintenance' is not intended to be a detailed technical document but to give a structure to highway maintenance and management strategy. The status of the code is advisory, ie not mandatory. However, the document and corresponding HMMP is highly influential and should be the cornerstone of the Authority's maintenance strategy.

8477/KFr