Contact: Kevin Fuller, tel 02380 663 388 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report covers a wide range of activities undertaken by specialist teams within the Environment Department and gives details on programmes for:

(i) Regeneration of Older Urban Areas;

(ii) Intelligent Transport Systems;

(iii) Bridgeworks;

(iv) Hampshire Country Towns Initiative;

(v) Development Related Works; and

(vi) Street Lighting.

2. Regeneration of Older Urban Areas

Rumbridge Street Totton

2.1 In partnership with New Forest District Council and Totton and Ealing Town Council, the County Council has prepared long term planning, design and management guidance for the regeneration of Totton town centre. Phase one of the project comprises of streetscene and traffic management improvements in Rumbridge Street, utilising joint funding of approximately £1.3 million.

2.2 A section of work related to phase one at the western entrance to Rumbridge Street is nearing completion.

2.3 The next stage of work, on Winsor Road, will when complete enable implementation of new traffic arrangements for the whole scheme. Timing of this element is dependent upon the completion of Utility work in the area and a successful Traffic Regulation Order process. Further stages of the shopping area are being prepared and programmed to complete stage one of the project.

3. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)

3.1 The ITS Group of the Environment Department manages the feasibility, design, implementation, operation and maintenance of traffic control and traffic and travel information systems throughout Hampshire. Further responsibility now sits with the ITS group, for the monitoring of and improvement to the operation of the highway network, as result of the Traffic Management Act.

3.2 The Executive Member for Environment: South Hampshire and Resource Management approved expenditure of £200,000 in the 2005/06 Transport Capital Programme, for extending the implementation of ITS in Hampshire. Buses operating in the Eastleigh area will be fitted with automatic vehicle location technology so that they can be tracked and incorporated into the county-wide real time passenger information system (STOPWATCH). The funding will also allow Hampshire and Portsmouth Real Time Information (RTI) systems to be integrated, allowing bus data and information exchange and the provision of real time information on services in the Havant, Gosport and Fareham areas. This information will be provided on electronic displays at bus stops and via the internet and mobile phones.

3.3 The continuing development of the Hampshire Traffic and Travel Information Centre (TTIC) in Winchester has enabled a number of systems to be deployed and operated in Hampshire. Collectively these applications help provide improved traffic and travel information and contribute to the delivery of the County Council's transport policies. The provision of timely and accurate information can help reduce congestion, manage incidents and improve accessibility. The funding will allow further improvement to the central systems in the TTIC, enhancing information collection and outputs. The work will also provide the basis for developing tailored and personalised journey planning and travel information.

Progress on Schemes in 2005/06

3.4 A new puffin crossing at Station Road, New Milton is now operational.

3.5 Works to complete the installation of the new Urban Traffic Control (UTC) computer system in New Milton to coordinate the operation of the traffic signals at the junctions of Ashley Road and Ashley Road with Spencer Road are complete.

3.6 There are no works currently planned during 2005/06.

4. Bridgeworks

4.1 This programme summarises:

(i) schemes started in 2004/05, but carrying over in to 2005/06; and

(ii) schemes due to start in 2005/06.

4.2 The Bridges Section of the Environment Department is responsible for all existing county highway structures, together with new structures built as part of road works, housing and industrial schemes. This covers inspection, maintenance, replacement, load assessment and strengthening.

4.3 Raynesway Construction Southern Limited (RCS) carries out most maintenance, through a term contract. Some specialist works, such as graffiti removal, and larger schemes, such as bridge replacements, are awarded by tender.

Funding

4.4 Most work on bridges is capital funded via the Local Transport Plan (LTP), but inspections, routine maintenance and environmental maintenance of subways are revenue funded.

Load Assessment and Strengthening

4.5 This programme was brought about by EU legislation that allowed 40 tonne lorries on UK roads from 1 January 1999. The assessments are now complete and strengthening of sub-standard bridges is ongoing.

Road/Rail Interfaces

4.6 Following the Selby crash in February 2001, parapets and safety fences at road/rail interfaces, most of which are bridges, have been prioritised. A rolling programme for protective measures has commenced that will continue over several years, as funding is made available.

Aluminium Parapets

4.7 The Highways Agency has identified that aluminium vehicle parapets made by BACO, installed before 1994, are not to current standards. All such parapets on county bridges were prioritised and RCS completed a contract for their replacement between September 2004 and April 2005. Three bridges, in East Hampshire, Eastleigh and Rushmoor, were omitted from this contract for operational reasons and were carried over to 2005/06. Details for individual bridges are given below.

Works in the New Forest Area

Totton Bypass Footbridge, Totton

4.8 This footbridge crosses the A35 Totton Bypass near Bartram Road. A specialist contractor, Chemries Limited, resurfaced the bridge and approach ramps in March 2005. The footbridge was closed during the works, with pedestrians diverted to the signalled crossing west of the bridge.

Redbridge Rail Bridge, Totton

4.9 This bridge carries the A35 Totton Bypass over the Bournemouth-Waterloo railway line. Its east parapet was damaged in a road traffic accident and temporary concrete barriers protect the site at present. Design of the permanent repairs and improvements are now complete and the scheme will be going out to tender shortly. It is hoped to start on-site in November 2005, but further details of timing and traffic management will follow.

Holmsley Rail Bridge

4.10 This bridge carries the A35 over Station Road, C10, at Holmsley and is still owned by Rail Property Limited (RPL), the branch of Network Rail responsible for bridges over disused railways. Hampshire County Council and RPL are discussing future ownership of the bridge and reports on progress will follow.

Leybrook Bridge, Sandford and Fordbridge, Ripley

4.11 Leybrook bridge carries Dragon Lane, U121, over a tributary of the River Avon at Sandford, and Fordingbridge carries London Lane, UI08, over a tributary of the River Avon at Ripley.

4.12 Both bridges were assessed and found to be sub-standard for load carrying. It was planned to replace them in late summer 2004; however the work was delayed due to a problem with land entry and this would have led to closing the roads during a very busy time for local farmers. Because of this, and to avoid the winter weather, it was decided to postpone the work until summer 2005.

4.13 Dyer and Butler started work on both bridges in June and are due to finish Leybrook in August and Fordingbridge in September 2005. Both sites require a road closure with signed diversion.

Avon Causeway Bridge on the Hampshire/Dorset Border

4.14 Dorset County Council is replacing the bridge that carries the Avon Causeway over the River Avon, under a "design and build" contract. As the bridge is on the Hampshire/Dorset border, Hampshire County Council was consulted prior to the Dorset Planning Committee meeting on 1 July 2005. The scheme was granted planning permission at this meeting, but work on-site cannot start until July 2006 at the earliest, because of environmental constraints.

4.15 The Avon Causeway will be closed during the works, but further details will be made available by Dorset County Council as they are finalised.

Aluminium Parapets

4.16 Between January and April 2005 RCS replaced the parapets on:

(i) two bridges on the Fordingbridge Bypass;

(ii) two on the A35 Totton Bypass;

(iii) one near M27 Junction 1, Cadnam;

(iv) Brockenhurst bridge on the A337; and

(v) Stuckton bridge, over Ditchend Brook, Stuckton.

5. Hampshire Country Towns Initiative (CTI)

Hythe Promenade

5.1 This project is an environmental improvement scheme with an estimated cost of £771,000. Construction work has started and is expected to be completed in November/December 2005. This is a partnership scheme with New Forest District Council utilising highway contributions and is being project managed on site by the District Council which awarded the contract.

New Milton

5.2 The details of this project are covered in the Highway Maintenance and Minor Works report elsewhere on the agenda.

5.3 The overall scheme is a recipient of a South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) grant under the Market Towns programme and is working within the framework of urban design principles commissioned from consultants Atkins.

6. Street Lighting

Maintenance Contract 2002/07

6.1 The maintenance contract continues to provide over 99% of all street lights on at any one time with performance levels improving since the change from "calendar" to "working days". It is not possible to be more precise at the present time due to the commissioning time for the new computer system.

6.2 The partnership arrangement has now been in place for six months and there have been some changes to the assessment of the contractor's performance, such as changing the method of time measurement from `calendar' days to `working' days and reducing the number of days to complete works in general. The new arrangements have split the original Street Lights Team into two new groups with the Contract Delivery Team located mainly at Cosham working alongside the Contractor and the Corporate Management Team at Winchester dealing with public interface, probity and audit, as well as the management of the Community Safety Initiative, new works and the Column Replacement Programme.

Column Replacement Programme 2005/06

6.3 A £1.8 million programme of work is planned for 2005/06 which commenced in late March 2005. The programme for the New Forest area is as follows:

(i) Leelands, Lymington - works due to start January 2006; and

(ii) Calmore Drive, Totton - works due to start September 2006.

Community Safety Initiative 2004/05

6.4 Alfred Close, Totton - works reported as complete.

Community Safety Initiative 2005/06

6.5 The programme for 2005/06 is as follows:

(i) Watermans Lane, Hythe - works due to start end October 2005 and finish mid November 2005;

(ii) Mountfield to Southampton Road footpath, Hythe - works due to start end October 2005 and finish late November 2005;

(iii) School Road, Hythe - works due to start end October 2005 and finish late November 2005;

(iv) Curlew Close, Hythe - works due to start end October 2005 and finish late November 2005;

(v) Curlew Drive, Hythe - works due to start end October 2005 and finish late November 2005;

(vi) Tern Close, Hythe - works due to start end October 2005 and finish late November 2005;

(vii) Somerville, Gorley Road and Whitehart Field, Ringwood - works due to start and finish in November 2005;

(viii) Calmore Road, Totton - works due to start and finish in November 2005; and

(ix) Cooks Lane, Totton - works due to start and finish in November 2005.

Energy

6.6 Following the start of the new supply contract in April 2004, consumption has tended to rise at a slightly higher rate than expected but still within budget. The main problem facing the County Council is, however, the prospective increase of 70% plus in energy costs in April 2006 when a new supply contract will be required.

New Computer System

6.7 The new street lighting computer management system, Deadsure, designed to monitor the street lighting maintenance contract, became operational on 10 February 2005. The new system was required as the previous system, SLIMs, was mainframe-based and the mainframe was switched off at the end of March 2005. There are still a number of problems to resolve, particularly as regards data and reports, but the inclusion of the street lighting GIS database and the expectation of the web browser and mobile field based operational returns make this an innovative system for the future.

7. Impact Assessments

7.1 This report provides a position statement only, therefore an impact assessment, in terms of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, has not been undertaken.

Recommendation

That this report be noted.

496/KF

DEVELOPER FUNDING

Total Held ..................................................................£2,253,166.24

Current Programme

Total Held to fund the above Capital Programme Schemes ...........£423,887

Possible Future Schemes

Maintenance: £19,538

Maintenance of Harbridge Drove

Maintenance of the A338 Ringwood- Salisbury Road

Maintenance of Jacobs Gutter Lane / Marchwood Road / Bury Road

Unallocated ...................................................................... £1,123,840

Total Held: ...................................................................... £2,253,166

Possible Future Funding

Contributions Received since last Meeting