Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport

The Select Committee considered the Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Plan (HIAMP) for Staffordshire, and the content of the Policy and Strategy which has been developed to fit within the available budget.

Staffordshire County Council was responsible for a highway asset valued at over £7 billion providing benefit to all as stakeholders.  The highway network was the largest and most visible asset for which the County Council was responsible and included over 6000 km of carriageway.  The way it was managed and maintained had a direct impact on the County Councils’ ability to deliver the vision of “a connected Staffordshire, where everyone has the opportunity to prosper, be healthy and happy”.

In recent years the investment in highway infrastructure and its performance had been increasingly under the spotlight.  The current financial challenges and increased public demands and expectations had meant the management of the Council’s highway assets had never been more important to ensure it achieves its outcomes.

Having a documented approach to highway asset management was good practice and allowed the Council to gain maximum available funding from the Department for Transport’s Self Assessment/Incentivised funding process.  To achieve the maximum funding it was also a requirement that the HIAMP was approved by Cabinet.  Consequently it would be considered by Cabinet at their meeting on 18 January, when they would also be informed of the comments of this Select Committee in order to take these into account in their consideration of this matter.

In accordance with national guidance, the Policy was a short and concise document that described the principles adopted in applying asset management to achieve the authority’s strategic objectives.  The Strategy was a concise high level document setting out how highway infrastructure asset management was delivered for the authority to meet its long term outcomes and objectives.

The draft HIAMP Policy and Strategy went out to public consultation from 10 August to 9 October 2016.  Thirty two responses had been received, the majority of which were broadly supportive of all aspects of the plan, particularly the aspirations and the commitments to achieving these with an information strategy and proactive prioritisation and planning of highway schemes further into the future. The majority of comments had been reflected in the current draft documents.  Actions taken in response to the consultation included: improved clarity and emphasis on the purpose of the HIAMP; increased use of plain English where possible; and removal of the Carriageway Asset Value Management Prioritisation Example Toolkit.

Members raised concerns over the public perception that the County Council was responsible for local highways capital maintenance funding and the criticism levelled at County Councillors as a consequence.  With regard to the 5% per annum that was currently top sliced from capital grant funding to contribute to corporate capital projects, members commented that it would be helpful for them to be informed where this was being spent.

In the near to medium future the majority of funding would be provided by the Secretary of State for Transport, including further funding from the allocation of the Incentive Fund scheme to reward councils who demonstrated that they were delivering using good asset management principles and value for money in carrying out cost effective improvements.  Members proposed that the Cabinet Member should lobby Central Government for more funding to protect the highways asset in Staffordshire.

RESOLVED – That:

a)    the Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Plan be endorsed;

b)    the content of the Policy and Strategy of the Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Plan be noted; and

c)     the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport write to the Secretary of State for Transport to lobby for more funding to protect the highways asset in Staffordshire.