Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor N M Murray.

The Chief Executive reported that under the Local Government (Committees and Political Groups) Regulations 1990, he had appointed Councillors G J Ellis to the Committee, in place of Councillor N M Murray, for this meeting only.

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

RESOLVED

            That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 December 2014 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record subject to the last bullet point of minute 41 being amended to read:

'A Councillor commented that the majority of people living in the Glebe area did not want a road bridge over Hawthorn road, and were happy with the existing plans for an NMU bridge. It was also commented by another councillor that at the meeting which took place recently in relation to this issue in Cherry Willingham, a lot of the people present were supportive of the NMU bridge plans, and that there was a relatively small but very vocal group of residents driving the campaign against the NMU bridge.'

Councillor I G Fleetwood was in attendance and was permitted to speak in relation to the comments made relating to the Lincoln Eastern Bypass.  He commented that whilst he disagreed with the statements which were made in relation to Hawthorn Road and the meeting in Cherry Willingham, after speaking to the Democratic Services Officer he was satisfied that the comments made at the meeting held on 15 December 2014 had been accurately minuted, and he was happy with the proposed amendment to minute number 41.

There were no announcements from the Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT or the Chief Operating Officer.

(To receive a verbal update from the Principal Maintenance Engineer in relation to Winter Maintenance)

The Committee received an update from the Principal Maintenance Engineer in relation to winter maintenance.  It was reported that so far it had been an average winter, and the authority still had 26,000 tonnes of salt available.  Salt was being very quickly transferred from the stocks in Southampton.  In response to a question, Members were advised that between 200-400 tonnes of salt would be used on each gritting run.  This translated to having approximately 40 days of salt.

It was noted that if there was an urgent need for more salt to be delivered from the stock in Southampton it would arrive the day after requesting the salt.

It was commented by a member of the Committee that it had been a pleasure to drive on the A46 that morning after it had been gritted and it had felt very safe.

(To receive a verbal update from the Infrastructure Commissioner on progress with the major schemes)

The Committee received updates in relations to the following major schemes:

Lincoln Eastern Bypass – the Department for Transport (DfT) had confirmed that a further public inquiry was required, and discussions were taking place with the DfT to identify a Planning Inspector and then finding a suitable date.  It was expected that this date would be in May 2015.

Lincoln East – West Link – work had commenced, and the contractor, Balfour Beatty, had been on site since November 2014.  There had been some difficulty in removing the final tenant from one of the properties, but this had been resolved.  Progress with the scheme was good.

Canwick Road – work on this scheme had now commenced, and Eurovia, the contractor, was now on site.  The carriageway works had commenced earlier this month following an extensive publicity campaign.  Members were advised that the disruption had been less than it could have been, and good progress was being made.  The expected completion date was still May 2015.

Footbridges, Lincoln – work was expected to commence on the High Street bridge on 9 March 2015.  The Brayford bridge was still undergoing a redesign.

Grantham Southern Relief Road – in relation to the King 31 aspect of the scheme, this was progressing well and discussions with the landowner were underway.  The authority was ready to progress with this element of the scheme. 

Skegness Business Park – planning permission for this scheme was expected to be considered in February 2015.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information provided and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         A member thanked officers for the speedy completion of the work on Station Road, North Hykeham, as the work was originally due to be completed in March 2015;

·         It was queried whether the relief road project was still going ahead in Boston, and it was agreed that an update on this project would be included in future major scheme updates;

·         It was queried whether the public inquiry for the Lincoln Eastern Bypass would be specifically examining the objections received in relation to the Hawthorn Road closure.  Members were advised that the conduct of the inquiry would be a matter for the Inspector, and it would consider the objections to the side roads orders and compulsory purchase orders.  It was expected that a pre-inquiry meeting would be held which would make clear to all participants how the inquiry would proceed.  It was noted that the inspector's report from the previous inquiry would be a key part of the considerations for the new inquiry;

·         The authority would be presenting a case for why the scheme in its entirety was an effective scheme and met the required objectives;

·         The current planning permission did not allow for a dual carriageway, therefore the Lincoln Eastern Bypass would remain as a single carriageway scheme at this stage;

·         It was commented that the Central Lincolnshire Plan was dependent on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

(To receive a report which invites the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee to consider the proposed Revenue and Capital Budget Proposals for Highways and Transport for 2015/16)

Consideration was given to a report which described the Councils budget proposals arising from the Local Government Finance Settlement which was announced on 18 December 2014, and the implications for the Highways and Transport services.

The Committee received a presentation on the budget proposals which provided more detailed information in relation to the following areas:

·         Current Budget Strategy;

·         Priorities Consultation;

·         Autumn Statement 2014;

·         Provisional Local Authority Finance Settlement;

·         Reduction in Government Funding;

·         Spending Power Explained;

·         Provisional Revenue Budget for 2015/16;

·         Revenue Budget – Service Area Impact;

·         Council Tax;

·         Capital programme – 2015/16

·         Consultations;

·         Proposed Highways and Transport Revenue Budget 2015/16;

·         Proposed Highways and Transport Capital Budget;

Members of the Committee were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained in the report and presentation and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was queried why there had been 3 public consultations with only North Kesteven District Council, and Members were informed that NKDC had invited the County Council to carry out these consultations in the district;

·         It was confirmed that if the Council had chosen to increase council tax by 2% for the past three years instead of accepting the government council tax freeze grant the county council would have gained an additional £12m in income;

·         It was not known for certain how many other county councils were in the process of putting up their council tax instead of taking the Freeze Grant.  A survey was being carried out by the Association of County Treasurers which should provide this information at a later date;

·         It was commented that the level of the proposed council tax rise should be affordable to most families.  It was noted that the proposed 2% rise equated to an increase of £20.25 for a Band D property (or 39p per week);

·         Members were advised that there had been 66 responses to the consultation on priorities through the Citizens Panel and 80 responses online;

·         It was reported that the LEP received half of the allocation for the integrated transport fund.  It was noted that the LEP would create its own priorities, and decide how it wished to use the funding;

·         It was noted that there was a proposed reduction of £470,000 to the Area Maintenance Teams (AMT).  Concerns were raised regarding the reduction of the Area Management Teams however, there would still be quick response teams in place. It was noted that officers would try to make efficiencies within the Area Maintenance Teams.   Members were also advised that a review of the Area Maintenance Teams would be carried out by two network managers;

·         It was commented that if a problem was reported, there could be a risk of injury if it was not fixed immediately.  Officers acknowledged that this was a risk, and work would be undertaken to minimise this risk;

·         The Committee was informed that the authority had performed well recently in relation to successfully bidding for additional grants and funding from central  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

(To receive a report which presents an update on progress with the Lincolnshire Highways Alliance, an Alliance between the County Council, Imtech, Mouchel and Kier)

The Committee received a report which provided an update on progress with the Lincolnshire Highways Alliance, an Alliance between the County Council, Imtech, Mouchel and Kier.  The Alliance delivered the majority of highway services through the Traffic Signals Term Contract, the Professional Services Contract and the Highway Works Term Contract.  The Lincolnshire Highways Alliance was now in the fifth year of a potential contractual duration of 10 years.

Members of the Committee were guided through the report by the Infrastructure Commissioner and some of the points highlighted included the following:

·         Overall performance of the Highway Works Term Contract had declined from 84.3 to 78.5, but this was still considered to be acceptable performance;

·         It was noted that performance for the Traffic Signals Term Contract and Client performance had both increased;

·         The Highways Maintenance Efficiency Plan Peer Review which had been planned for October 2014 had been rescheduled for 3- 5 March 2015;

·         The Alliance continued to work with Cranfield University to follow up the Strategic Value for Money Assessment as part of the Future Highways Project;

·         Work was underway on a joint Alliance Project to upgrade the existing BT private wire circuits to ADSL broadband at the 100 Urban Traffic Control (SCOOT) installations in Lincoln, Boston and Grantham;

·         A number of major schemes were progressing towards the construction phase.  Lincoln East-West Link and Canwick Hill had started, and a tender to start the construction of an element of the Grantham Southern Relief Road;

·         The design of Phase 1 of Spalding Western Relief Road was now complete and the detail design of Grantham Southern Relief Road was progressing well;

The Committee was 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:

·         It was noted that the 30,000 square metres of patching which had been carried out included resurfacing work;

·         It was difficult to convert the amount of patching into miles, as it depended on the size of the pot hole, the width of the road etc..  Officers agreed to try and provide some averages for the next report;

·         In relation to site safety assessments, it was noted that the performance was a concern as it had reduced from 100% last quarter to 86.96% in the current quarter.  Members were advised that the inspections were carried out by Mouchel, but they would be transferred back in house to the County Council when the contract with Mouchel ended on 31 March 2015.  The inspections were carried out independently through the corporate contract, and there had been some issues around resource availability which had led to the reduced number of visits which had been carried out;

·         Following the submission of a petition to the Council meeting on 19 December 2014 regarding the noise resulting from the surface dressing used on the A158 at Burgh le Marsh, Members were advised that a request had been made for noise surveys to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

(To receive a report which invites the Committee to consider its work programme for the coming months)

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Committee with an opportunity to consider and comment on the content of its work programme for the coming year.

The Scrutiny Officer advised that there were no changes to work programme at this time.

It was clarified that the Draft Speed Limit Policy update was a follow up on the review carried out by the Task and Finish Group in 2014.

RESOLVED

            That the work programme be noted.