Highways asset management strategy

Foreword

Plymouth’s highway network is used by tens of thousands of people every day, commuting to work, attending business meetings, visiting friends and family, travelling to medical appointments, taking part in social and leisure activities and much more.

It is absolutely crucial to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of our local communities and the future prosperity of the city as a whole.

Financially, this is a very challenging time for councils, but we remain committed to providing a network that is resilient, not just making repairs where needed but investing in preventative work to slow down or halt any decline in its condition.

This strategy sets out how we will manage and maintain all our highway assets, from roads, footways and bridges to streetlights, traffic signals and signs.

It outlines how we plan to meet our statutory obligations, as well as the needs of local residents and other stakeholders, in the most efficient, collaborative and cost-effective way we can.

It also shows how we do this in line with industry best practice and national guidance, including the new Highways Code of Practice, Highways Management Efficiency Programme and Department for Transport Incentive Fund recommendations. 

We hope it will help to explain our responsibilities and our commitment to ensuring Plymouth has a safe and well-maintained highway network.

Councillor Mark Coker
Cabinet Member for Transport

Document Control

Strategy Review

This strategy and the Asset Management Policy will be reviewed bi-annually, updated and re-published as appropriate. This process will be managed and implemented by Plymouth City Council officers.

Introduction

The Importance of Highway Infrastructure to Plymouth

The local highway network is the largest and most visible community asset for which local authorities are responsible. It is used daily by the majority of residents, businesses and those passing through the City and is fundamental to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the community. It helps to shape the character and quality of the local areas that it serves and makes an important contribution to wider local authority priorities, including regeneration, social inclusion, community safety, health and wellbeing. With a total replacement cost in excess of £1.5 billion, the importance of its effective and efficient management cannot be understated.

Why Asset Management?

Asset management is a strategic approach that seeks to optimise the value of highway assets over their whole life. Plymouth City Council recognises that by taking an asset management-based approach to its local highway maintenance, investment can be targeted on long term planned activities that prevent expensive short-term repairs. This approach not only maximises value for money, ensuring informed investment decisions can be made, but also manages risk and maintains a highway environment that is safe and secure and accessible for our customers.

Asset Management Policy

Plymouth City Council’s Highway Asset Management Policy is a high-level document which establishes the Council’s commitment to Infrastructure Asset Management and demonstrates how this approach aligns with the Council’s priorities, objectives and the Plymouth Plan.

Asset Management Strategy

This Highways Asset Management Strategy has been drawn up by the Plymouth Highways Service and sets out how the Asset Management Policy will be delivered. It has been developed as part of the overall Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Plan (HIAMP). This Strategy sets out how the Council will best manage the Highway Network, taking into consideration customer needs, local priorities, asset condition and the best use of available resources balanced against risk of service failure and the likely future demand for services. It also ensures that both short and long term needs are appropriately considered, whilst delivering a minimum whole life cost approach to our Highway Assets. It is aligned to the Council’s corporate priorities and policies in the Plymouth Plan.

In support of the Council Plan 2021-2025 and the Plymouth Plan 2014-2034 (due for review in 2024), this Council recognises that an asset management approach to the maintenance of the highways network will aid the achievement of the Councils vision, as set out below:

Council Priorities

Our priorities:

• Working with the Police to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour
• Fewer potholes, cleaner, greener streets and transport
• Build more homes - for social rent, and affordable ownership
• Green investment, jobs skills and better education
• Working with the NHS to provide better access to health care and dentistry
• Keeping children, adults and communities safe

Doing this by:

• Providing quality public services
• Trusting and engaging our communities
• Focusing on prevention and early intervention
• Spending money wisely
• Empowering and engaging our staff
• Being a strong voice for Plymouth

Plymouth Plan priorities

• Plymouth as a healthy city
• Plymouth as a growing city
• Plymouth as an international city

Asset management objectives

• To provide a safe, efficient, accessible and health-enabling highway network
• To reduce the environmental impact of the highway asset
• To deliver cost effective asset management
• To encourage the adoption of innovation in the highway service

Asset management framework

Plymouth City Council has developed a Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Framework that is based on the recommendation made with the 2013 HMEP Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Guidance and the 2017 Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice. This plan summarises all activities and processes that are necessary to develop, document, implement and continually improve our approach to asset management.

Context

This establishes the context for highway infrastructure asset management in Plymouth. The context includes a variety of factors that need to be taken into consideration when determining the Council’s expectations for the highway service. The factors include: corporate strategy, local vision, local transport policies, expectations of stakeholders and legal and financial constraints.

Planning

This sets out the key activities that are undertaken by Plymouth as part of the asset management planning process. The activities include:

• Policy – Plymouth’s published commitment to highway asset management.
• Strategy – Plymouth’s published statement on: how the policy will be implemented, the implementation of an asset management framework, the strategy for each asset group, and the commitment to continuous improvement.
• Performance – The levels of service to be provided by Plymouth’s highway service and how performance will be measured and reported.
• Data – Plymouth’s strategy for data collection and management, without which informed decisions cannot be taken.
• Lifecycle planning – Plymouth’s lifecycle plans for each asset group which when combined with funding levels and desired levels of service enable informed decisions to be taken.
• Works programmes – Plymouth’s rolling programme of works for each asset group.

Enablers

Enablers are a series of supporting activities that support the implementation of the Asset Management Framework. They provide a means of: developing organisational leadership and the adoption of an asset management culture; effectively communicating and collaborating with all stakeholders; developing the competencies and skills of all highways staff, effectively managing risk; delivering a strategy for the use of asset management systems; measuring the performance of the asset management framework; benchmarking progress and collaborating with other highway authorities, and above all, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

Delivery 

The delivery component of the framework sets out how the highway service will be delivered with our partner, South West Highways.

Strategy for Main Asset Groups

Introduction

Whilst the highway network is divided into key asset groups these should be considered as an integrated set of assets when developing highway infrastructure maintenance policies. Below is a summary of the assets maintained by Plymouth.

Highway Asset Hierarchy

The network hierarchy is essential for the management and maintenance of the network. The hierarchy considers current and expected use, resilience, and local economic and social factors such as industry, schools, hospitals and similar.

The carriageway and footway asset hierarchy has been reviewed in line with Well Managed Highway Infrastructure and is used as a tool to help ensure that highway maintenance activities are effectively prioritised.

Table: Carriageway Hierarchy

Table: Footway Hierarchy

Resilient Network

In addition to the network hierarchy and in line with recommendation 20 of the Well Managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice, resilient networks have been identified for both carriageways and footways. These Resilient networks take into account key strategic considerations as detailed in the Network Resilience Strategy. It is intended that through the identification and monitoring of the resilient networks that they are prioritised for maintenance and other measures to maintain economic activity and access to key services during extreme weather.

Carriageways

Carriageways are the most valuable highway asset in Plymouth, having a Gross Replacement Cost of nearly £1.5 billion and receive the greatest levels of maintenance expenditure. They were the first asset, for which lifecycle plans have been developed, resulting in the creation of several investment scenarios which have modelled current condition, investment levels and desired performance outcomes. This has enabled a greater understanding of where to target investment to achieve the desired levels of service.

Plymouth City Council is responsible for the maintenance of 53km of principal (A) roads, providing transport links within or between large urban areas. The Council is also responsible for 211km of non-principal (B&C) roads connecting towns and villages and feeding traffic between principal and smaller roads. Unclassified, estate and rural roads serving local traffic account for 611km, the largest proportion of the Plymouth network. The condition of the carriageway asset is measured through annual surveys and inspections.

Planned maintenance is delivered by an annual programme. This programme of capital funded schemes of work are identified using an asset management approach. This evidence-based approach to maintenance is endorsed by Council Members and supports the overarching priorities of the authority. A Value Management approach is used in addition to carriageway condition to consider customer complaints, defect hotspots, cycle routes, etc., to ensure value is delivered to the customer.

Management of highway defects and other carriageway safety issues arising across the network is delivered using a combination of capital and revenue funding. By employing an asset management-based approach and improving the co-ordination of road maintenance and improvement activity, Plymouth will continue to increase the value achieved in road maintenance, improve network resilience and reduce the burden on revenue budgets through the delivery of effective programmes of preventative work .

Current Challenges: To maintain the resilient network at a suitable condition by managing the percentage of “red” condition assets, whilst also managing the unclassified network to avoid its further deterioration with growing demands on the existing budgets.

Desired Outcome: To sustain the overall condition of the carriageway network at an acceptable level whilst maximising value for money through asset management and exploring innovative technologies and alternative surface types.

Footways and Cycleways

Footways and cycleways are critical assets supporting access and mobility for people in Plymouth. Securing continuous improvement in the safety and serviceability of footways and cycleways is necessary to encourage alternatives to the car, particularly for journeys in urban areas. Well maintained footways aid social inclusion, particularly improving accessibility for vulnerable people and support the Active Travel agenda.

Plymouth City Council is responsible for the maintenance of 31km of primary footways in high footfall areas, for example town centres, and 872km of footways providing access in residential and remote areas. The Council also maintains a number of cycleways as part of the highway network, mostly those which form part of, or are adjacent to, either the carriageway or footway networks. The footway and cycleway assets have a Gross Replacement Cost of nearly £182 million.

Footway and cycleway condition is assessed through regular condition surveys and inspections. Planned maintenance has historically been determined on a worst first basis and concentrated in urban areas with high footfall. However, in recent years this has transitioned to a more targeted asset management approach. The shortfall in maintenance budget or expenditure has resulted in overall long-term deterioration of the footway and cycleway network, a problem experienced by highway authorities nationally.

Following unprecedented levels of walking and cycling across the UK during the 2020 pandemic, the Department for Transport is keen to encourage more people to choose alternatives to private vehicles. This includes improved public transport and active travel options, making healthier habits easier and helping make sure the road, bus and rail networks are ready to respond to future increases in demand. This also aligns with the Council’s environmental agenda to address the current climate emergency.

Current Challenges: To maintain the resilient footway asset at its current condition and to efficiently target works around established priorities whilst trying to co-ordinate our maintenance programmes with significant works being undertaken by third parties on the network. For the financial years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 a major contractor has been and is working throughout the City on upgrading and renewing the LFFN network, mainly in footways. This has resulted in the Capital Footway program being largely postponed for both of these years with budgets being redirected into other works. This is resulting in further deterioration of the asset and predominantly only reactive maintenance being carried out until the scheme is completed enough to enable Planned Maintenance works to continue. This decision was taken to avoid areas being renewed as part of Planned Maintenance and then re-opened as part of the LFFN works.

Desired Outcome: Plymouth City Council aims to support the Plymouth Plan to encourage active travel and maintain a safe, efficient, accessible and health-enabling network of footways and cycleways.

Drainage

The highway drainage asset is critical to ensuring the controlled removal of water from the carriageway to allow customers to use it safely. The impact that failure of the drainage asset can have on other highway infrastructure is significant, particularly to the carriageway.

The current inventory of highway drainage assets across Plymouth includes approximately 42,000 gullies and 81 culverts. As part of an invest-to-save initiative, an inspection-led regime is being adopted in conjunction with the use of a risk-based prioritisation model, to focus gully cleansing activity on those gullies that need cleansing and reduce needless cleaning of those which do not. The prediction model will be verified through both re-inspection and performance measures of the drainage asset.  Routine maintenance is carried out on a ward by ward basis with only gullies that require it being cleansed. The Resilient network is prioritised over other roads and gullies on it will be cleansed as a separate exercise on an annual basis.

Outside of routine maintenance, the current approach to repairs and improvements is predominantly reactive, focussed on analysing and addressing known flooding hotspots to reduce those areas presenting the highest risk of flooding. This process is reviewed regularly to ensure the data is current and accounts for any work undertaken or new issues that may arise.

To proactively maintain the entire drainage asset into the future, we will continue to build a complete inventory and good understanding of condition including the associated risks that come with failure. This will enable us to undertake programmes of preventative maintenance whilst monitoring and reviewing performance.

Drainage is complex to maintain as it can be influenced by many other assets, including those not maintained as part of the highway network. As such, the establishment of a cross-discipline Water Management Group, with input from several areas of the Council, will enable effective management of drainage and flooding.

A key factor in the ongoing maintenance of the drainage asset is building upon the understanding of where the Council’s assets interface with those owned and maintained by utility companies. A constructive dialogue with utility companies enables an effective resolution to be established where issues are seen to originate on assets not owned or maintained by the Council. 

Improving our knowledge of drainage infrastructure across the city enables us to demonstrate evidence-based decisions on drainage maintenance and support our ability to secure future funding investment, while demonstrating savings in revenue expenditure through efficient and effective maintenance.

Leaf fall season presents an increased risk of flooding issues following heavy rain due to the presence of leaves and vegetation on or in drainage systems. We meet at least weekly during the leaf fall season with our colleagues in Street Cleansing and have agreed additional leaf fall sweeping routes that cover our known problem areas where increased leaf cover can result in drainage issues.

Current Challenges:

The city’s drainage assets are identified on the majority of the network. However, our records need to be updated for some areas such as service lanes, Footway gullies, linear drainage, and Combined Kerb & Drainage systems so cyclical cleaning can be further targeted where required. Due to their increased maintenance difficulties, the use of Combined Kerb & Drainage systems on new schemes has been discussed with our colleagues in the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure team and will be targeted to only those locations where traditional drainage systems are not feasible or economically viable.

The growing challenge of climate change will continue to put additional strain on the capacity of the drainage asset as weather events may become more frequent and severe. We aim to improve the drainage asset and to target known areas which are prone to flooding with innovative solutions and efficient, sustainable practices. It is also key throughout that we liaise with the local utility companies to address any issues with their supporting assets. The program of planned drainage schemes is targeted around known hotspots and in particular those where we believe works will help to improve and reduce the likelihood or impact of further flooding.

Desired Outcome: To continue with a regime of targeted cyclical cleansing to ensure an efficient programme is in place and providing value. This will manage drainage based on risk and account for the changes in practice needed due to the seasonality of risk factors such as leaf fall and winter weather. This will be supported by addressing and reducing the risk posed by identified hotspots so as to reduce the risk of flooding events.  

Structures

Plymouth City Council actively manages its structural assets in accordance with principles set out in the UK Roads Liaison Group publication ‘The Management of Highway Structures, A Code of Practice’. There are approximately 97 bridges and culverts, 25 footbridges, 48 subways, 4 tunnels and 1 viaduct being maintained, with a Gross Replacement Cost estimated to be £458 million. Routine maintenance of structures is based on a prioritised system of required work with the aim of minimising the risk to public safety and future maintenance costs.

The condition of the structures is monitored with four different types of inspections: general inspection, principal inspection, special inspection and post-tension special inspection which are all undertaken in line with guidance BD63-Inspection of Highway Structures.

All structures are maintained in a condition ‘fit for purpose and safe for use’. This is undertaken in line with a risk-based methodology, prioritising identified works on safety critical elements as well as primary and secondary structural elements of the asset.

Current Challenges: There exists a challenge around ensuring that all assets can be assessed, prioritised and maintained in a means that can be effectively utilised across the authority and that structures are viewed alongside other assets as part of a wider system when considering maintenance works.

A second challenge relates to the need for an authority wide management approach to watercourses to ensure that each aspect of the system, including highway culverts, work efficiently and are not negatively impacted by another element of the watercourse system.

Desired Outcome: To establish and maintain an effective asset management process in which structures assets are managed in an environment alongside other assets that form a wider part of the system, including both highways and non-highways assets and that this process provides value for money.

Street Lighting

Street lighting is an important highway asset, contributing to public amenity, safety and the night-time economy. With a Gross Replacement Cost of £34 million, the lighting asset consists of approximately:

• 31,369 Street Lights (column and wall mounted);
• 4,875 other inventory items (i.e. illuminated and reflective bollards, internally and externally illuminated signs, school flasher etc);

Illuminated signs and bollards are continuing to be reviewed and where safe to do so, the Authority is removing illumination in order to reduce the energy cost and related carbon footprint of the asset. Areas identified as requiring illumination will be lit using generation 2 LED luminaires. In the future there will be a  greater use of Computer Management Systems (CMS), providing improved control of operating times and the profiling of street lighting. This will reduce energy usage and cost.

The overall condition of the street lighting asset is monitored in accordance with ‘Institute of Lighting Professionals Technical Report 22’. Plymouth City Council operates a 3 yearly general maintenance and visual inspection and 6 yearly general maintenance cycle, with all columns in the city being visually inspected for structural and electrical condition. This maintenance cycle has an overall aim of minimising non-routine visits and improves the efficient operation of the asset.

Current Challenges: 12,000 lighting units are over 25 years of age and are outside their designed life expectance and are due to be reviewed or replaced. Additionally, year on year additional assets reach this age profile demanding a structured approach to the replacement program to maintain a safe inventory.

Desired Outcome: There has been a major investment by the council to carry out a 3 year replacement programme, this is to both replace the columns affected by wear and age as well as to re-engineer the lighting arrangement where possible, to reduce street clutter and make available efficiencies.

Traffic Signals

Traffic signal-controlled junctions and pedestrian crossings form an important highway asset, contributing to the safe and efficient use of the road network and promoting economic growth within the city. With a gross replacement cost of £20 million, its efficient operation and maintenance allows those using the road network to move around the city with the minimum of delay and disruption. Efficient maintenance regimes also ensure that the traffic signal installations are maintained in a safe structural and electrical condition.

There are currently 119 signal-controlled junctions, 60 pedestrian signal crossings, 105 other inventory items (i.e. car park signs, variable message signs, traffic management CCTV cameras etc).

Congestion reduction is a key corporate target in line with the goal of Keeping Plymouth Moving for which traffic signals play a vital role. Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) are set and monitored to ensure that our contractor attends and rectifies faults within specified contract time periods.

Current Challenges: There are 10 key junctions that have not been MOVA enabled, this potentially results in more congestion at these locations

Desired Outcome: A recent ‘Transforming City’ funding allocation by the DfT has allowed for the updating of these locations with full MOVA and V2X capabilities.

CCTV

Plymouth owns and operates 360 CCTV cameras across the city, these cameras support a variety of PCC departments and partnerships including Devon and Cornwall police, Plymouth Against Retail Crime (PARC), Plymouth Highways and Urban Traffic Control (UTC) to name but a few, they utilise various signal transmission methods including, private fibre, rented fibre, wireless & 4G.

The system consists of a mixture of Analogue and IP cameras solutions. Operated from a combined control centre on an upgraded platform, funded from the ‘Transforming City’ funding allocation by the DfT.

All the existing analogue CCTV cameras and infrastructure are beyond their expected service life and now require investment to upgrade. Maintaining and repairing older equipment and infrastructure is increasing in cost as replacement components become less abundant. The energy requirements to run older equipment is also higher due to introduction of more energy efficient technology used in newer equipment, this represents a potential carbon saving which could be achieved through an upgrade programme.

Current Challenges: There are currently 200 Cameras that require replacement and with the upgrade of the cameras, consideration must be given to the upgrade, change or removal of the supporting transmission infrastructure. This is in part driven by the considerable annual costs to maintain the existing fibre optic infrastructure rental, which increase annually.

Desired Outcome: The development and installation of new technologies reducing ongoing infrastructure and energy costs. This will enable the delivery of a modern and effective CCTV system fit for the future.

Street Furniture

A well designed and managed highway environment generates benefits for residents, businesses and visitors to the city. Road markings, signs and street furniture have a significant presence within this environment and appropriate design and maintenance of these assets is required to offer a safe and attractive public realm to road users.

Plymouth City Council is responsible for a number of different street furniture assets however there is limited knowledge of reliable inventory and condition data. There is an ambition to capture safety critical street furniture and in line with the code of practice, take opportunities to simplify signs and other street furniture and to remove redundant items, this is considered when planning highway infrastructure maintenance activities.

Illuminated street furniture is being rationalised to ensure that only those sites at which additional illumination is a requirement are lit. The sites will be considered for enhanced retro-reflectivity materials, such as on signs and bollards, which will not only reduce energy costs but will support the goals and responsibilities of the authority to reduce the carbon footprint of our highway asset.

Current Challenges: Given the diverse nature of street furniture, the provision and management of the overall asset group requires a careful blend of planned and reactive maintenance that considers the purpose and risk associated with that asset type. The key challenge is to ensure the provision and maintenance of safety-critical assets in order to support a safe and efficient highway environment.

Desired Outcome: To ensure that the inventory data collected and held is effective in supporting the management of the asset group. To ensure that the assets maintained are effective, efficiently located and necessary for the safe and efficient operation and use of the highway network.

Data management and information systems

Plymouth City Council understands that in order to drive continuous improvement and inform effective asset management-based decision making, having the right data management systems in place is vital. The Authority believes that the collection, management and use of data needs to be based on a process, which identifies:

• Ownership
• Data requirements
• Responsibilities
• Costs to store, manage and maintain data

Asset data comprises information on what physical highway infrastructure assets the Council is responsible for, where they are and how they perform. Effective asset management planning and decision-making relies on this data being available, appropriate, reliable, up to date and accurate.

This data has been collected through condition surveys and comprehensive inspections regimes for highway assets and is stored within Plymouth’s Highway Information Management systems. These systems support decision making through managing information and data to support asset management as well as to record and monitor its implementation.

The data management systems utilised to support highways asset management enable data-led modelling of investment scenarios and accurate feedback of both statutory and good practice data returns such as the Whole Government Accounts (WGA) asset valuation.

A data management strategy has been developed that fully supports the asset management strategy and performance framework. 

Climate Emergency

The Climate Change Act 2008 places obligations on the Council and others to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare to adapt to longer term climate change. On the 18^th March 2019, City of Plymouths Elected members voted unanimously to declare a climate emergency and in doing so, committed to meeting the most significant challenge facing our city and our planet.

As part of declaring a climate emergency the Council have produced a Corporate Carbon Reduction Plan (2021) to support the goal to become net zero by 2030. Plymouth Highways are supporting this plan through the reduction of emissions by changing illuminated bollards and sign lights to LED and to increase to over 50% the number of road junctions with LED signal heads. This follows a successful programme of LED streetlight conversion.

The highway network can and should look to mitigate the production of the gasses which are key contributors to climate change in other areas. An asset management approach that maximises early planned maintenance interventions to avoid costly reactive works will reduce disruption and congestion on the road networks cutting journey times, reducing fuel use and the carbon footprint of travel.

Key to this approach will be the understanding of the challenges posed by carbon emissions and of how current practices impact upon this. By reviewing the training of staff in line with council priorities, we can ensure that we act with an awareness and understanding of the importance of managing carbon emissions.

 By looking to carefully assess and adopt new and emerging practices, it will also be possible to move to maintenance options with an overall lower carbon cost with a carefully managed impact on the overall lifecycle of the effected assets. This is a challenge that all highway authorities face and as such it will be essential to continue collaboration works with other authorities and user groups.

Preparing For The Future

Sustainability with regards to asset management links highways to the wider environment and sustainability principles of the Council. The long-term approach driven by asset management considers the actions required to mitigate both direct and indirect impacts of highway maintenance on the environment and our local community. These include:

• Active Travel (walking and cycling)
• Biodiversity
• Carbon outputs
• Effects of Extreme Weather
• Environmental Impact
• Air Quaility

By considering the wider objectives of highway maintenance there may be an impact on the level of investment required however the Council is committed to understanding all the options available so they can make the best decision for our local area. In order to do this in the most efficient way the Council will explore the use of new materials, treatments and techniques for highway maintenance that meet over overarching objectives of making Plymouth a healthy, growing, international city.

Innovation

The Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure Code of Practice suggests that local authorities should be considering the adoption of new and emerging technologies as part of their highway service. Given the ever-changing technological landscape it is important that consideration should be given to new ideas, methods of working and innovation to drive greater efficiency.

Plymouth City Council is committed to driving innovation through the highway service and their membership to LCRIG will support their aim of making innovation a key aspect of its service delivery.  Any new innovations that the Council pilot will be monitored, tested and implemented where possible to help enable service enhancements and cost reduction.

The Council will also look to work with other local authorities to share innovative practices through groups such as LCRIG, ADEPT and the South West Highways Alliance. A recent additional network called the “SW Regional Knowledge Exchange” has been established by LCRIG to share best practice and innovation between authorities in the South West area.

Risk Management

The Council’s Risk Management Strategy defines the approach to managing risk across the Authority and has been adopted in developing the HIAMP. The essence of the strategy is to define and record significant risks within Risk Registers which detail the mitigating actions needed to minimise the risk exposure those hazards present to a level which is deemed acceptable to the Authority.

The purpose of a risk-based approach for highways is to get a consistent application of our decision-making process which ensures:

• Efficient use of available resources
• Value for money
• Current risks are understood and mitigated if required
• Future risks and opportunities are considered

This approach is supported through the Well-managed Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice.

Funding

Funding for highways asset management comes from a number of streams, these are generally sourced either from the Department for Transport (DfT), through investment from the Council itself or through provisions as part of agreements with developers.

DfT funding can be broken down into several sources, the precise values and names of which will change year to year dependent on the funding agreements. These include the Highway Maintenance Block (HMB), which is separated into a needs based element and an incentive based element; specific funding streams such as the pothole fund and the additional funding announced in 2023 as well as; competitively bid funding streams such as the DfT challenge funds, which we have received in the past.

The calculation used to decide distribution of DfT funding is detailed in the funding allocations published on the government website. This is allocated based on:

• The length of A, B & C and Unclassified roads (excluding rear lanes)
• The number of briges over 1.5m in span
• The Number of Streetlighting columns

At present, the length of footways and cycleways is not used in calculating the allocation for DfT funding.

Additionally, the DfT funding calculation has had a longstanding incentive based element. The incentive element is a proportion of the allocated funding which is provided contingent on the Council meeting a certain criteria in an evidenced self-assessment process. This process and the criteria used are currently being reviewed by DfT.

In addition to DfT funding, the Council itself provides funding to invest in highway asset management.  This takes the form of funding sourced from revenue streams, from council reserves or from borrowing. This is allocated based on the submission and approval of business cases which are formulated to support the asset management objectives whilst taking account of the budgetary needs of the Council.

Best Practice

Plymouth City Council is committed to the development of good practice and continuous improvement, having already played a leading role in the development of the regional agenda on highway asset management. Examples of memberships and actions that demonstrate the Council’s commitment include membership of:

• The South West Highways Alliance;
• The Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT)
• Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG)
• Institute of Asset Management (IAM),
• Ringway Client Group - Well Managed Highway Infrastructure
• CIPFA HAMP Network; and
• Attendance at a variety of local and regional events.

Performance Monitoring

With this strategy an implementation plan has been created to enable to continual review of progress against this plan in addition to undertaking formal annual reviews. The following Asset management objectives have been developed:

• To provide a safe, efficient, accessible and health-enabling highway network
• To reduce the environmental impact of the highway asset
• To deliver cost effective asset management
• To encourage the adoption of innovation in the highway service

These service areas are targeted in the Performance Management Framework, including measures of asset performance and public perception of the asset (NHT public satisfaction surveys).

We will monitor performance against these objectives to enable us to identify where we are making progress and where we may need to make changes to ensure we continue to manage the asset in the most efficient manner, and to ensure that we are able to continuously improve.

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