Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport.

The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport provided operational performance information on two long-term highway service delivery contracts: Infrastructure+ and Streetlighting Private Finance Initiative (PFI); and invited direction on future or additional performance measures necessary to demonstrate these contracts are achieving their required aims.

By way of background, members were reminded that Infrastructure+ is an overarching agreement between the County Council and Amey LG providing an outcome focused approach to the delivery of highway and non-property infrastructure services across Staffordshire. A core element of the Infrastructure+ partnership is a Term Service Contract (TSC) for the maintenance, management and improvement of over 6,300kms of highway network.

Infrastructure+ operational performance is managed through a balanced scorecard process. At the last meeting of the Strategic Partnership Board in July 2020, operational performance was scored as +23 on a range of +/-58 and accepted as satisfactory taking into consideration the funding constraints particularly around highway maintenance.

As part of the 2020-21 Infrastructure+ Business Plan the Strategic Partnership Board agreed some improvement plan priorities which were accompanied by an Extra Investment Strategy. The local road network is the council’s single largest physical asset with a gross replacement value of over £7billion. The Government’s own endorsed Asset Management approach to highway maintenance recognised that a highway network the size of Staffordshire’s required a one-off investment of around £75m to bring it up to target condition followed by £42m/year ongoing to achieve ‘steady-state’ condition in carriageway condition alone.

The £26m available revenue budget (approximately 5% of the Councils total annual revenue budget) services commitments including the streetlighting PFI, school crossing patrols and a range of statutory functions. Approximately £10m (2% of the Council’s annual revenue budget) remains for highway maintenance operations. The extra £20m investment strategy approved by Cabinet in 2017 provided an additional £5m/year over 4-years to reduce the backlog and associated reputational and financial liability of long standing pothole defects. Levels of public satisfaction measured through the NHT survey have started to see improvement in some aspects of highway maintenance associated with this extra investment.

In May 2003 Lighting for Staffordshire Ltd commenced delivery of the street lighting Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract which would operate for a period of 25 years. The value of the contract at its commencement was £250m and the Council has received revenue support grant of £1.54m per annum to support delivery of the contract.  The primary reason for the PFI had been to redress a continued lack of investment in street lighting assets. The Staffordshire contract constituted a continuous programme of asset renewal throughout the contract period.

Since the contract commenced back in 2003 the number of street lighting assets on the highway network has risen from 99,343 to 108,626 (June 2020), a growth of 9.3%. Following the credit crunch high value contracts such as the Street Lighting PFI contract were re-assessed for their value and to ascertain if costs could be reduced. Officers entered into negotiations with the PFI contractor with a view to achieving increased value against  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96