Agenda item

(To receive a report by Paul Rusted, Infrastructure Commissioner, which sets out the performance of the highways service including the Lincolnshire Highways Alliance, Major Highways Schemes Update, the National Highways and Transport (NHT) Survey 2017 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 Highway Schemes Update, the National Highways and Transport (NHT) Survey 2017 and the Customer Satisfaction Information.

Members were guided through the report and were given 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 commented that the Alliance performance was good, but the results of the NHT Survey were disappointing.

·         In terms of the transport assessment for the western growth corridor, implications for impacts on the A46 were being scoped, but it would come down to an issue of balancing costs against a list of priorities.

·         It was commented that the satisfaction levels being down were more likely due to the visible weeds at the side of the road, as this would create a perception about the condition of the roads in general.

·         It was queried whether there was any merit in looking at the quality of footpaths arounds schools, however, it was noted that this should be included as part of a school's travel plan.

·         In terms of the Lincoln Eastern Bypass, it was commented that one of the issues was capacity and cars being stationary, and so it was queried whether so many roundabouts were needed.  However, it was also considered positive that the project was coming in under budget in some areas, and it was queried whether the savings could be used to make modifications to the scheme.

·         It was queried whether there was an issue of confidence with the contractor as its share price had dropped dramatically since the start of the contract as details of its financial situation had emerged.  Members were reassured that the project would be constructed and finished in an appropriate time.  It was noted that some of the issues being experienced by the contractor had so far on had any impact on this project.  The phase of works which would be the earth works was about to commence and the authority would be closely monitoring the project.

·         It was noted that ragwort was a particularly difficult weed to remove and that it needed to be sprayed at the right time, officers reported that it would only be treated where it was adjacent to live stock.

·         It was important that the archaeology from the Lincoln Eastern Bypass was captured and recorded.

·         Queries were raised regarding the repair of faulty streetlights, and members were advised that there should not be any back log and as long as they were being reported in the correct way they should be being repaired.

·         It was noted that in relation to the National Highways and Transport Survey, and the Highways Maintenance/Enforcement theme benchmark results, Lincolnshire had not achieved the average result for any of the indicators.  Members were advised that the survey had been sent out to between 1400 – 1500 members of the public, and measured peoples satisfaction with certain aspects of the highways service.  In technical terms, it was believed that the highways network was performing well.

·         It was thought that customer perception of highways services should be better than it was.  It was noted that there were some authorities who had a poorer condition of highway, but were receiving higher customer satisfaction scores.

·         Members were advised that the authority would continue to carry out work in accordance with the asset management strategy but there was a need to start to think about how the authority could have an impact on the customer perception of the work carried out.

·         A suggestion of holding a focus group with some of the respondents of the survey was put forward, but it was commented that this tended to only produce individual responses and it was suggested that it could be more effective to speak with other authorities to get a more positive message.

·         It was confirmed that the archaeology work for the Grantham Southern Relief Road was due to commence in January 2018.

·         In relation to the Grantham Southern Relief Road it was reported that in broad terms, the design work was mainly complete, but there a couple of issues where some more detailed decisions on the impact of the work on nearby land were needed.  Just about all comments from Highways England on the design for phase 2 had been received with only minor adjustments required.

·         It was commented that from a highways point of view, the authority was doing well across the county, and it was thought that officers from the Communications Team should be in attendance at these meetings to advise members on how to best present this information to other organisations such as parish and district councils.

·         It was commented that members were pleased that a scheme for a relief road in Hykeham was being worked on.

·         It was confirmed that actions set out in Appendix D to the report would be progressed, and the Committee would receive feedback on this which would be included in the next performance report.

·         It was requested that a report on a short term communications strategy should be brought to a future meeting.

RESOLVED

1.    That progress against the action plan set out in Appendix D to the report be included in the next performance report to the Committee.

2.    That a report on a Communication Strategy be brought to a future meeting of the Committee to address the public perception of the condition of the county's highways.

3.    That the comments made in relation to the performance report be noted.