Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport, (CET/23/29) which dealt with capital funding for highway maintenance and the On-street Parking Account (OSP). It reviews the progress delivered in 2022/23 for the capital programme and details the proposed programmes for capital funding and OSP for 2023/24, attached.

An Impact Assessment has been prepared and has been previously circulated separately to all Members of the Council as part of the Budget Setting Process. Budget setting 2023/2024 - Impact Assessment (devon.gov.uk). If any Member requires a hard copy, then ask the Clerk prior to the meeting.

RESOLVED

(a) that the progress on 2022/23 capital funded highway maintenance

programme as detailed in Appendices B and C to the Report is noted;

(b) that the capital funded highway maintenance programme for 2023/24 as

set out in Appendices D and E is approved;

(c) that the Climate Change, Environment and Transport 2023/24 capital

programme is increased by £9,390,800, funded by external grants;

(d) that detailed allocation of the available budget be determined by the

Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport, in consultation with

the Cabinet Member for Highway Management, on the basis of the Highways

Infrastructure Asset Management Plan, and within the limits of the approved

budget; and

(e) the programme funded from the On-street Parking Account for 2023/24 as

set out in Appendix F of the Report is also approved

Councillors Biederman, Brazil, Dewhirst, Hannaford and Whitton attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport, (CET/23/29) on capital funding for highway maintenance and the On-street Parking Account (OSP). It further reviewed the progress delivered in 2022/23 for the capital programme and detailed the proposed programmes for capital funding and OSP for 2023/24. The Report had been circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

The 2023/24 indicative funding awarded to the Council from central Government included in the Report had been approved by Full Council in February 2023.  The Chancellor’s March budget had included additional capital Potholes funding, of which Devon’s allocation was £9,390,800. Recommendation (c) requested this be added to the 2023/24 capital programme and approval sought to allocate the capital funding across the programmes and schemes proposed in 2023/24 as listed in appendices D and E.

An overprogramming element within the programme helped to manage in year pressures, therefore the allocations included an anticipated overprogramming carry forward value of Local Transport Plan (LTP) monies from 2022/23 of £0.621 million, subject to approval of the revenue and capital outturn Report, to be submitted to Cabinet in June 2023.

The Report also sought approval from Cabinet for the programme of work identified in accordance with the provisions of the Traffic Management Act 2004, to be funded from the On-street Parking Account as listed in appendix F.

The Cabinet noted that the Service had been performing well (evidenced through compliance with national guidance and development of a risk-based approach as identified in the code of practice (Well Managed Highway Infrastructure) and operated efficiently, demonstrated through benchmark data provided to the National Highway and Transport (NHT) Network.

Section 4 of the Report focussed on the Capital Programme and the Financial Considerations and Sources of Funding for 2023/24 including the LTP Needs Formula Allocation, Incentive Funding (Band 3), Potholes Fund, overprogramming brought forward, Highways lighting LED, Central Management System Street lighting and A379 Slapton Line projected brought forward grant, with table 1 showing all sources and amounts.

Section 5 of the report focussed on Road Condition and Strategy, noting that assessment of road surface condition of classified roads was provided using automated survey vehicles (SCANNER) and through visual surveys. Local Authorities (LA) were required to provide, over a two-year cycle, data to the Department for Transport (DfT) on the conditions of their ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ roads. Figure 1 showed the proportion of classified and unclassified roads across the network.

Appendix A, Figures 1 to 4 inclusive provided a summary of Devon’s RCI data in a graphical form over time by road classification using the national indicator bands.

Progress on the 2022/23 Highway Structural Maintenance Programme was shown in Appendix B of the Report and the 2022/23 Bridges Assessment and Strengthening Programme could be found in Appendix C. It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 312