Highways maintenance

Baseline activity

Highways maintenance

Head of service

Steve Moore

Date

January 2005

Number of staff and equipment

2 full time staff, on a needs-led basis.

Specification

Maintenance of public highway

All emergency highway repairs should be completed within 24 hours.

Repairs to the highway should be uniform and avoid the use of ‘black top’ tarmac except as an interim repair to make the site safe.

All street furniture should be painted every three years including play areas and seating. Note: Litter bins are currently cleaned/redecorated by Street Services. Lamp and banner columns are currently cleaned/redecorated by Street Lighting.

Responsive Repairs and Inspections: The council has a duty to maintain the highway for the safe use of the public throughout the city including the BID area. This will include surface potholes/defects and other highway related equipment such as bollards, fences/barriers, signs, lighting, gullies and fixed planters.

In the city centre, each street is formally inspected on a monthly basis and is “walked”. Informally we have a dedicated two person maintenance gang, virtually constantly within the area, wandering around, generating their own instant footway repair works, when found. As a result city centre claims against the council have dropped from 51 in 2001/02 to 3 in 2004/05 to date.

Routine maintenance

For non-hazardous defects and repairs of a more minor nature, the council will respond in a responsive manner with the works taking place within its contractors programme. This could be as a result of routine inspections, follow-ups to temporary responsive repairs and/or third party reports. Typically this would be small areas of surface repair/patching, straightening/replacing damaged signage, white and yellow lines, repairs/replacement of damaged bollards/barriers, repairs to gullies/drainage, repairs/replacement of seats and notice boards.

Budgets for this type of work are limited and therefore repairs will tend to be directed at safety concerns rather than appearance. Painting of other street furniture such as electrical control cabinets, bollards, railings, trading posts, cycle hoops etc is scheduled on a 7 year cycle but further works are carried out should this be possible.

Licensing functions

Responsible for licence management of: skips; scaffolds; tables and chairs for pavement cafes; charitable events; window cleaners; access by others.

Statutory undertaker functions

Responsible for co-ordination of street works eg gas, electricity, redevelopment, construction work.

Responsible for enforcement of obstructions on the highway

such as advertising boards, goods on the pavement.

Responsible for road traffic signs

Transport Dept and other directional signs.

Responsible for maintenance

of new highway schemes/proposals, banners, bollards and road markings.

Performance measure

Maintenance of public highway

Any defects that are considered to require attention to safeguard the public are noted for further action:

• category 1 defects - these are the most potentially hazardous (eg trips over 20mm, badly rocking slabs, demolished bollards/barriers) will be scheduled for a “make safe” repair within 24 hours. In the case of paving slabs and/or blocks this could mean they will be removed and a temporary “bitmac” filling used. If a permanent repair is not possible on the first visit, then the necessary repair is programmed for appropriate follow-up works.
• category 2 defects - these are the less hazardous but of some concern (eg moving/broken slabs, minor trips, dislodged/bent bollards/barriers) will be scheduled for attention within 28 days.

Adhoc safety inspections will be undertaken should a third party report a defect. The council also provides an “out of hours” response service for emergency highway matters via the central CCTV Control Room.

Existing value of contract/service

• street furniture annual repair budget for BID area £10,000
• additional budget for seats = £15,000/annum

Boundary area

BID area.

Proposed BID additional activity

N/A

Cost of BID additional activity

N/A

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