Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL. View directions

Contact: Rob Close  Democratic Services Officer

Media

Items
No. Item

36.

Apologies for Absence/Replacement Members

Minutes:

No apologies for absence were received.

 

37.

Declarations of Members' Interests

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were made with respect to any items on the agenda.

 

38.

Minutes of the previous meeting of the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee held on 25 October 2021 pdf icon PDF 402 KB

Minutes:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 October 2021 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

 

39.

Announcements by the Chairman, Executive Councillors and Chief Officers

Minutes:

The Assistant Director Highways advised that Paul Little, Head of Asset Management – Highways, would be retiring soon after a total of 40 years in Local Government, 19 of those with Lincolnshire County Council.

 

40.

Rail Recovery and Strategic Role in Providing Connectivity, Supporting Lincolnshire Communities and Economy pdf icon PDF 579 KB

(To receive a report from Jayne Wingad, Rail Policy Officer,& Jason Copper, Transport and Growth Manager, which provides an update on the changes to the rail industry, forward strategy and the Department for Transport and Transport for East Midlands rail collaborative agreement)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report from the Rail Policy Officer which provided an update on the changes to the rail industry, forward strategy and the Department for Transport and Transport for East Midlands rail collaborative agreement. The Chairman invited Andy Thexton, Senior Strategic Planner – Network Rail, to present to the Committee.

The Committee were given an overview of Network Rail’s strategic advice process, advised of the geographical scope for the existing rail transport study and Restoring Your Railways proposals in Lincolnshire. The study aimed to understand the current rail offerings in Lincolnshire through an evidence-based process, use of SPEED principles, understand opportunities for improved connectivity, understand the impact of level crossings and, finally, make evidence-based recommendations to funders, including the Department for Transport (DfT) and third parties. The methodology used would undertake both a medium-term assessment, looking at rail usage in 2030s, and long-term assessment, looking at rail use in 2050s. As a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic, predictions for usage in the medium term would be generally more conservative than the longer-term predictions. Assessment would be taken through a five-stage process beginning with an evidence review, indicative train service specifications, capacity analysis, over analysis and finally, development of options. Further activity included basic economy analysis, capacity analysis, station capacity analysis, level crossing analysis and, if appropriate, development of infrastructure intervention with an order of magnitude cost. The study current sat within its early phase, seeking to identify a question lead before stakeholder engagement commenced in 2022. Following stakeholder engagement, the programme was expected to take approximately five months to complete.

The Chairman invited Craig Leaper, Head of Train Planning and Access – East Midlands Railway (EMR) to present to the Committee.

The Committee were given an overview of EMR’s recovery from the Covid-19 Pandemic, which was beginning to progress with the leisure market generally recovering quicker than the commuter market. Consideration was being given to filling to revenue deficient seen from reduced fares. Although it was stressed, leisure loading, on occasion, had exceeded comparable pre Covid-19 periods. EMR was currently in dispute with the Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT Union) resulting in industrial action coinciding with the Lincoln Christmas Market. This resulted in significantly reduced operation in order to allocation sufficient capacity to Lincoln. The RMT Union ultimately decided to call off any intended action, however, this was too short notice to resume standard service. Significant changes were made to EMR’s timetable in May 2021, unfortunately, these changes did not represent an improvement with several short notice delays and cancellations. As a result, a Regional Resilience timetable was adopted in June 2021 running alongside an Operational Delivery Improvement Plan considering fleet, customer service operations, performance, Nottingham operations and regional resilience. The plan was making good progress to date; however, it was recognised that the service offered may have been too ambitious in practice. A summary of timetable changes made in December 2021 was given, with detail of four cancelled routes between Nottingham and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

41.

Performance Report, Quarter 2 – (1 July 2021 – 30 September 2021 pdf icon PDF 456 KB

­­­­(To receive a report from Tom Gifford, Client and Contract Manager, Highways, which sets out the performance of the highways service including the Major Highway Schemes Update, Lincolnshire Highways Performance Report and Transport Complaints Report)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report from Tom Gifford, Client and Contract Manager, updating the Committee on the performance of the Highways Service including the Major Highway Schemes Update, Lincolnshire Highways Performance Report and Transport Complaints Report. Members were advised that the Council had three major highways schemes Grantham Southern Relief Road, Spalding Western Relief Road and North Hykeham Relief Road. An overview of contract performance for Balfour Beatty, WSP, and Colas was offered, with an overall improvement highlighted. During quarter two, 12,078 faults were fixed, including potholes, gully grates, slabs, and gully pots. Community Maintenance Gang were awarded additional funding of £3.9 million to make improvements throughout communities and the roads linking them. WSP continued to support council officers from the Technical Services Partnership (TSP). 95.9 per cent of traffic signal emergency faults were addressed within a two-hour window and 100 per cent of standard faults were addressed within the appropriate time scale. A number of traffic signal capital works were completed in quarter two. The number of complaints received saw a decrease of four per cent from the previous quarter. Throughout the three main partners, five apprentices were currently in place with a further two graduates employed.

Councillor Brookes departed the meeting at this point.

The Committee considered the report, and during the discussion the following comments were noted:-

  • Noting that kerbing jobs were not subject to a performance measure, Members asked what the average wait time was. The Client and Contract Manager noted that the overall effectiveness of deadline satisfaction was assessed through performance measures, the data on kerbing jobs specifically wasn’t immediately available. He offered to provide this data outside of the meeting.
  • Referencing the delay seen in the North Hykeham Relief Road, Members asked if any changes in process would be implemented in the future to increase efficiency. Furthermore, Members felt that more frequent and detailed updates would have been of benefit to Local Members.The Client and Contract Manager stated that a significant exercise was undertaken with Anglian Water to identify why they were delayed in attending to leaks. Further detail would be provided to the Committee.
  • Members asked if a traffic flow improvement had been apparent as a result of the North Hykeham Relief Road. Moreover, some Members shared experiences of improved flow on North Hykeham. The Client and Contract Manager explained that the data to identify a change in traffic activity wasn’t yet available.
  • While stressing their appreciation of the functionality offered by the Highways App, Members noted that it suffered from a number of bugs and glitches. Furthermore, Members, noting that the pins weren’t removed after a completed job, asked if this was to be updated in the future. The Client and Contract Manager explained that bugs and glitches resulting from the Highways App had been noted relayed to the app developers. IOS devices appeared to be most affected by any difficulties. The app offered a filter option to remove completed works from its display.
  • In encounters with gangs present to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

42.

Highways - Gully Cleansing, Drainage Repair Schemes and Surface Water Flooding pdf icon PDF 417 KB

(To receive a report from Richard Fenwick, County Highways Manager, which sets out the reactive, cyclic, and planned aspects of highways drainage maintenance including low-level flooding response)

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report from Richard Fenwick, County Highways Managers, and Shaun Butcher, County Programme Manager, updating the Committee on the reactive, cyclic, and planned aspects of highways drainage maintenance including low-level flooding responses. Members were advised that the Council had 190,000 highway drainage assets including gullies, Catchpits and Offlets across the county, of those, 98,000 had been cleansed in the routine programme and 10,500 had defects requiring follow up work. Defects included jammed lids, broken or missing ironwork, damaged pots or chambers, or blocked connections. Contractors took photos of defects, aiding local teams to access whether it needed immediate attention could be planned at a later date. The Council worked currently with eight tankers but looked to recruit more through ACL. To mitigate limited staffing numbers of critical services were prioritised and in order to ensure work was completed by the end of the financial year. In recent months, officers were advised from both Members of the Council and public that more timely but shorter answers were more satisfactory than detailed delayed answers, therefore, officers endeavored to take this into account when addressing customers in the future. The funding for minor drainage improvements for 2021/22 was increased from £300,000 to £600,000 to enable problematic small schemes that occur during each period of severe weather to dealt with. A full programme of drainage investigation works continued through 2021/22 by Ajet. Minor Works Gangs used CCTV equipment and tools to carry out minor civils repairs or root cutting, attending 305 sites, with a further 204 designed and scheduled for the rest of the year. A successful Invest To Save bid approved, by Members in 2020/21, of £2.2m was allocated to the Floods and Water Team. £1.4m had been programmed onto various drainage schemes with the remaining budget planned to be spent in 2022 on larger and more complex scheme. Work had been undertaken collaboratively with colleagues from the Flood and Water Management Team to undertake Section 19 Investigations. All flooding and drainage reports were mapped through CSC and Fix My Street.

The Committee considered the report, and during the discussion the following comments were noted:-

  • Members welcomed the Development Drainage Funding, asking for an overview of the broad nature of schemes currently under consideration. The County Programme Manager explained that consideration was currently undertaken by the Technical Team and offered to provide further detail outside of the meeting.
  • Acknowledging the limited take up of gully clearing amount residents, Members asked if the Council had a dialogue with district councils to encourage leaf clearing on streets before a flooding problem was caused. The County Programme Manager stated that the Council had always worked closely with district councils to coordinate works, however Lincolnshire’s large geographical footprint made created challenges to effectively ensure gullys were cleared particularly in times of high leaf shedding.
  • Members shared experienced of significant delays in the availability of CCTV equipment to investigate blocked gullys, going onto ask what was considered reasonably acceptable by officers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

43.

Transport Connect Ltd - Teckal Company Update Report (1 May - 31 October 2021) pdf icon PDF 426 KB

(To receive a report from Anita Ruffle, Head of Transport Services, which provides and update on the activities an performance of the Council's Teckal Company, Transport Connect Ltd (TCL), over the period May-October 2021)

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report from Anita Ruffle, Head of Transport Service, updating the Committee the activities and performance of the Council's Teckal Company, Transport Connect Ltd (TCL), over the period May-October 2021. Members were advised that the initial loan to the Teckal Company had now been repaid in full, but it is still making use of its revolving credit agreement. The latest management information available showed a strong income performance with income for the first half of the year 6.5% better than budgeted. Established in 2016, Teckal had already saw an expansion of both the Company and it’s Board Membership. There has been no capital expenditure on replacement vehicles during the period. Although revisited at Board meetings regularly, no changes had been made to the Company’s current business plan. Several pupils carried tested positive for Covid-19 and three TCL drivers subsequently contracted the virus, totaling five staff members testing positive since May 2021. The cessation of Government grants for PPE resulted in Teckal bearing the full cost for PPE and cleaning. Like many operators, TCL had also been impacted upon by a shortage of drivers within the market. During July, all workshop technicians underwent first aid training on a course specifically designed for the workshop environment. Training to administer epilepsy medication was undergone by some crews in August and Supervisors received Fire Marshall training in September. TCL's One School One Provider (OSOP) contract into Sandon School was subject to an unannounced check by the council's Inspection Team on the 6 October with no compliancy concerns identified. All, but two, vehicles passed their MOTs first time. TCL continued to operate other CallConnect Services in areas of lack of interest. Three third party liability incidents have resulted in damage to vehicles over recent months. Installation of CCTV on all CallConnect vehicles was implemented to successfully evidence third party culpability. The Company has accepted liability for one incident. One complaint was received regarding lack of advanced notice about a change of personnel on a SEND contract.

The Committee considered the report, and during the discussion the following comments were noted:-

  • Members asked that, as TCL’s governance and resilience was to be assessed, would that encompass the resilience of both the Board’s governance and the resilience of it’s finances. The Head of Transport Service explained that the assurance review was primarily focused on appropriate Board arrangements rather than financial resilience.
  • Appreciating the shortage of drivers, Members asked if there was a view to encourage recent retirees to return. The Head of Transport Service explained that all avenues to increase driver employment had been explored. She hoped the BSIP would enable a training academy to enable long term sustainability.
  • Members relayed their experience that fuel prices were decreasing in recent weeks.The Head of Transport Service hoped that fuel spikes had peaked and were likely to decline.
  • Members sought further clarity on the revolving credit agreement referenced within the report. The Head of Transport Service explained that, while endeavouring to promote financial independence,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

44.

Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee Work Programme pdf icon PDF 659 KB

(To receive a report from Kiara Chatziioannou, Scrutiny Officer, which enables the Committee to comment on the content of its work programme for the coming year to ensure that scrutiny activity is focused where it can be of greatest benefit)

Minutes:

The Committee received a report from the Scrutiny Officer, which enabled the Committee to comment on the content of its work programme for the coming year to ensure that scrutiny activity was focussed where it could be of greatest benefit.

 

RESOLVED

 

          That the work programme presented be agreed.

 

 

 
 
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