Agenda item

To pre-scrutinise a report for the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services on the proposals for the strategy for the Stronger Roads Today campaign.

The Committee received a report from the Director or Universal Services on the proposals for the strategy for the Stronger Roads Today campaign.

Officers provided a presentation on the proposals which highlighted the impact of the weather during winter 2022/23, which had resulted in significant damage to the road network. The County Council had saught to take immediate remedial action, with 23 rapid repairs teams repairing 1,000 defects per week over an 8 week period. Member heard that a programme of both medium and long-term works formed the strategy, which would enable sustainable, economical repair of and investment in the road network. Whilst current funding would not be sufficient to signifcantly improve the condition of the highway network, the Committee heard that central government had announce that some additional funding would be made available for investment in highways as a result of the cancellation of the HS2 project. It was further heard that predictions were for another challenging winter in 2023/24 but as a result of actions taken across 2023, the Council were in a better and stronger position to deal with the effects of the winter season than during the previous year.

In response to Members questions it was heard that:

·         Where water was impacting roads, particularly in rural areas, proactive steps were being taken by the County Council to improve drainage.

·         The County Council had undertaken an excersise to identify the backlog in maintainace requirements to bring the network into a stable state, which had resulted from restrictions on funding, with the shortfall valued at approximateley £0.5 billion. It was further noted that the County Council worked in partership wherever possible and had saught to maximise grant funding oppurtunities, to make best use of resources availble to maintain the road network.

·         It was noted that it was very difficult to secure funding to maintain the road network within planning for dvelopments, however the County Council had made several sucessful agreements. It was noted that Section 106 agreements now allowed oppurtunity for the County Council to seek funding for road maintenance and would form consideration for future planning.

·         Members highlighted the need for the County Council to lobby the governement for the power to hold utility companies to account when making road repairs, with the national requirement that repairs are made like-for-like. The Executive Lead Member for Universal Services noted that the Leader had written, along with the seven other local highways authorities, to Central Government to ask for this power, and further noted that this was a regular matter for discussion with local MPs. It was recognised that the County Council had mainted good working relations with the utility companies and that the work they undertook was essential for infrasture and residents, however the Council saught to take any measures possible to protect the road network.

·         It was forecast that climate change would result in longer warmer and wetter winters, which would have an ongoing detrimental impact on the road network.Skansa used a proactive approach in Sweeden to constly treat the road network to seal and treat holes. A trial had been undertaken in East Hampshire which demonstrated positive outcomes and the County Council were now looking to roll this out across the whole of the road network.

·         The numbers of pothole claims had grown expidentially, amounting to approximately £100k per annum, however it was recognised that the claims individually were not significant. It was noted that the change in road usage, with falls in communting traffic following the pandemic, meant the council were reviewing changes to mainatence schedules to make best use of funding available.

·         £37.5m per annum of funding, for the next 3 years, had been allocated by Hampshire County Council for repairing the road network.

Through debate it was acknowledged that it was recommended that the full implementation of the Highway Network Recovery Strategy be deferred until 2025/26 at the earliest, subject to review in Autumn 2024.

RESOLVED

The Universal Services Select Committee supported the recommendations being proposed to the Executive Lead Member for Universal Services on page 1 of the report.