Agenda item

(To receive a report from Paul Rusted, Infrastructure Commissioner, which sets out the performance of the highways service including the Lincolnshire Highways Alliance, Major Schemes Update and the Customer Satisfaction Information)

Consideration was given to a report which set out the performance of the highways service including the Lincolnshire Highways Alliance, Major Highways Schemes Update and the Customer Satisfaction Information (including service specific complaints and compliments).

It was reported that the National Highways and Transport Survey and Highways Condition Information was measured and reported annually and would be included in a future report.

There were currently five major schemes which were reported through the Council Business Plan which were as follows – Lincoln Eastern Bypass; Grantham Southern Relief Road; Lincoln East West Link (now completed); Spalding Western Relief Road; and Progress with North Hykeham Relief Road.

The Committee was guided through the progress update on the major highways schemes, the customer satisfaction information and the Lincolnshire Highways Alliance Performance Report for Year 7, Quarter 4.  Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Concerns were raised regarding the proposed A17 carriageway widening following similar works which had been carried out in previous years.  However, members were advised that the design manual which was used had changed substantially, and there was also a three stage safety audit process.  The authority would be doing everything possible to ensure that the old problems of a 2 +1 carriageway were not revisited.

·         One member commented that they were very encouraged by the North Hykeham Relief Road, but raised concerns about congestion between Skellingthorpe Road roundabout and Doddington Road roundabout and queried whether there was a need for this to be dual carriageway rather than single.

·         Members were reminded that this was an update on those projects which had already been through the formal planning process and work was underway.

·         It was commented that the major schemes update was a very useful report as one member had been asked about various schemes at parish council meetings.

·         In relation to conflicting works which had been scheduled by Highways England, it was queried whether this was a regular occurrence and what could be done to mitigate it.  Members were advised that highways England was currently going through some major changes and were trying to bring everything back in house.

·         One councillor expressed an interest in speaking to Dynniq (Traffic Signals Term Contract) as they had met their carbon footprint per employee target, with an improvement of almost 30% on the 2015 figure.  The Executive Councillor indicated that he could put the councillor in touch with a contact at the company.

·         There was a growing worry about weeds coming up and breaking up the sides of roads as this would cost more to repair in the future than regular weed spraying.  Members were advised that the authority was trying to use better products, but there was a limit on which products it was able to use.

·         Members were pleased to see that projects in Skegness were included in the report and it was positive that £4m was being invested on the east coast.

·         Officers informed members that they would find out more detail regarding the A52 for the Beacon medical practice bus stops.

·         Members were informed that South Holland District Council had recently voted to accept £224,000 from government with £100,000 match funding which would be used to support the development of technical and detailed design for the Spalding Western Relief Road.

·         In relation to the Highways Alliance, performance was still good.  It was noted that that the Alliance was maintaining a good performance level for the final quarter of year 7.

·         It was noted that the Alliance had been assessed at band 3 for 21 of the 22 areas for this year's Department for Transport Self-Assessment , and it was queried which was the area where the Alliance was not Band 3.  Members were advised that this related to standard which had be achieved for asset management, it was noted that all the work required for it was being done, but there was a lot of process work involved in applying for the standard which took up a lot of officers time.  Members were reassured that the Alliance was already performing well in this area.

·         It was acknowledged that overall the Alliance was performing well, but concerns were raised regarding the increase in customer complaints for this quarter, and it was queried whether the authority was communicating enough with the public.

·         It was queried whether officers could include a guide to the acronyms used in the performance reports as some of the new councillors were finding them difficult to understand.  Officers agreed to take this on board and try to resolve it in the future.

·         It was queried whether the authority should be doing more to promote positive things it had done in relation to highways.  Members were advised that usually highways organisations received complaints regarding things they weren't doing.  However, it was suggested that part of a members' role was to promote things such as highways schemes to parish councils.  It was felt there was a need to find the right balance of promoting schemes whilst not appearing to deflect attention from things the public was concerned about (e.g. repairing potholes).

RESOLVED

            That the details of performance contained in the report be noted.