Contact: Peter Mitchell, tel 023 9244 6159 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report outlines:

(i) progress with the 2003/04 Highway Maintenance Programme;

(ii) details of the 2004/05 Highway Maintenance budget; and

(iii) details of the 2004/05 Highway Maintenance Programme.

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, routine drainage work, including gully cleansing, signs and road markings, environmental maintenance of grass verges, trees and shrubs, weed control and highway emergencies. Minor bridge works and winter maintenance is 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. Progress with the 2003/04 Highway Maintenance Programme

Revenue Maintenance Programme

3.1 The total allocation for Havant for 2003/04 is £543,000. Progress throughout the year has been in line with the overall spend profile and it is expected that the programme will be completed within time and budget constraints. A budget monitoring statement is included within Appendix 1.

Capital Maintenance Programme

3.2 The total allocation for 2003/04 is £847,000. The programme is nearing completion and, as with the Revenue Maintenance Programme, it is expected that it will be delivered as planned within time and budget constraints. A budget monitoring statement is included within Appendix 1.

3.3 A status report detailing progress of all special maintenance, resurfacing and surface dressing schemes is attached as Appendix 2.

4. Highway Maintenance Budget 2004/05

4.1 The Highway Maintenance budget for 2004/05, approved by the Executive Member for Environment, is £51,461,000. This sum comprises £21,232,000 revenue funding and £30,229,000 funding from the capital programme provision. This includes an additional £3.5 million to help to address the backlog within highway maintenance programmes.

4.2 The revenue budget allocation has been increased above the allocation for 2003/04. This is to address some of the pressure areas that have consistently occurred. In Havant it will assist with hazard clearance.

4.3 Central Government funding achieved through the Local Transport Plan (LTP) process has increased, and locally resourced capital funding has been maintained at 2003/04 levels. It should be noted that maintenance funding allocated through the LTP process is directly related to the condition of Hampshire's road network, and future levels of funding are dependent on the County Council's ability to improve the overall condition of the network.

4.4 A further programme to target urban footways to maintain accessibility and improve standards, reducing the potential for claims, has been included. The unclassified road network remains in a poor condition as a result of the flooding in 2000/01 and further severe damage due to clay shrinkage occurred during the dry summer in 2003, requiring a sustained, enhanced level of funding to recover.

5. Highway Maintenance Programme 2004/05

Revenue Maintenance Programme

5.1 As described above, the revenue maintenance programme funds three main areas of highway maintenance: reactive minor repair works on the road, cycleway and footway network; maintenance of current traffic signs and road markings and minor traffic management improvements; and the environmental aspects of highway maintenance, including grass cutting, weed treatment and tree and shrub maintenance.

5.2 The total allocation for Havant for 2004/05 is £583,000. The budget allocations for 2004/05 are set out in Appendix 3.

5.3 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 Programme

5.4 The funding allocation for the capital maintenance programme is based on the HAMP rating system and will reflect the agreed intervention levels. The HAMP rating intervention level directs funding to those maintenance schemes displaying a higher `maintenance need'. Therefore, the funding allocation within the Borough for the 2004/05 capital maintenance programme will differ from that allocated in 2003/04.

5.5 As stated above, planned structural maintenance repairs undertaken through the capital maintenance programme include surface dressing, special maintenance and resurfacing schemes. A provisional list of schemes under each of these headings for 2004/05 is attached as Appendix 4.

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

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

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