Contact: Richard Chinn, tel 023 80 427000 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 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 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 Highways Maintenance Programme

Revenue Maintenance Programme

3.1 The total revised allocation for the Test Valley area for 2003/04 is £832,000. 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 revised allocation for 2003/04 is £1,626,000. 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.

3.4 As reported to the Panel in October 2003 a number of lower priority schemes have been deferred into the 2004/05 programme as a consequence of the need to complete a number of high priority drainage schemes elsewhere in the area where unforeseen ground conditions were encountered. The majority of the deferred schemes have been designed and it is anticipated they will be implemented during the first quarter of 2004/05.

4. Highway Maintenance Budget 2004/05

4.1 The 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 address the backlog within highway maintenance programmes.

4.2 The revenue budget allocation has been increased above the allocations for 2003/04 in order to address some of the pressures that have consistently occurred such as hazard clearance and the maintenance of signs and roadmarkings.

4.3 Central Government funding achieved through the Local Transport Plan (LTP) has increased, and locally resourced capital funding has also been enhanced. 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. Also the unclassified road network is still in need of attention as a result of the flooding in 2000/01 and with the dry summer in 2003 a number of roads have been severely damaged due to clay shrinkage. This will require a sustained, enhanced level of funding to recover.

4.5 Given the above mentioned clay shrinkage problems, the County Council, along with several other local highway authorities, made a bid to Government for additional funds for repair work. The County Council made a bid of £3 million, and of the £14.1 million allocated by Government, £1 million was awarded to Hampshire. A proportion of this

sum will be allocated to the Test Valley area in addition to the allocations made under the headings of revenue and capital maintenance described in this report and shown in Appendix 3.

5. Highway Maintenance Programme 2004/05

Revenue Maintenance Programme

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

5.2 The total allocation for the Test Valley area for 2004/05 is £832,000. The 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 gully emptying, visibility splay grass cutting, winter maintenance and ordinary bridge maintenance.

Capital Maintenance Programme

5.4 The total allocation for Test Valley for 2004/05 is £1,632,000, which includes a proportion of the £3,500,000 county-wide additional funding. The allocations for 2004/05 are set out in Appendix 3.

5.5 The funding allocation for planned maintenance schemes is based on the Highway Assessment of Maintenance Priorities (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'.

5.6 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.

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

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

8704/RJC