street lighting outages will increase at a rate of around 1000 per week; the condition of our footways, bitmac roads and cycle ways will deteriorate, as repair services are withdrawn from low trafficked rural roads (43% of the network) and only the most serious defects will be repaired in other areas; flooding incidents will be expected to increase during periods of heavy rain as there will be no routine gully clearing; traffic signal faults will be more common and repair periods will increase; and the risk of public liability claims could rise due to a breach of statutory duty. The funding requirement for a skeletal service is set out in Annex A. Compared to the funding available (£12.8M), the requirement is £21.9M (which, in effect, means that the Department would proceed carrying a financial risk of £2.3M - 25% of the £9.1M shortfall until June Monitoring). An enhanced option is also presented to include for: the provision of a normal winter maintenance service, except for grit piles and grit bins; and additional gully emptying. This would bring the requirement to £25.9M, although there is a very low prospect of securing additional funding on this scale. Clearly, however, there are various permutations between £21.9M and £25.9M. A meeting with officials has been put in the diary for 30 March 2015 to discuss the issue further. RECOMMENDATION That you note the detail above and agree to meet with officials to discuss further.
street lighting outages will increase at a rate of around 1000 per week; the condition of our footways, bitmac roads and cycle ways will deteriorate, as repair services are withdrawn from low trafficked rural roads (43% of the network) and only the most serious defects will be repaired in other areas; flooding incidents will be expected to increase during periods of heavy rain as there will be no routine gully clearing; traffic signal faults will be more common and repair periods will increase; and the risk of public liability claims could rise due to a breach of statutory duty. The funding requirement for a skeletal service is set out in Annex A. Compared to the funding available (£12.8M), the requirement is £21.9M (which, in effect, means that the Department would proceed carrying a financial risk of £2.3M of the £9.1M shortfall - until June Monitoring). An enhanced option is also presented to include for: the provision of a normal winter maintenance service, except for grit piles and grit bins; and additional gully emptying. This would bring the requirement to £25.9M, although there is a very low prospect of securing additional funding on this scale. Clearly, however, there are various permutations between £21.9M and £25.9M. A meeting with officials has been put in the diary for 30 March 2015 to discuss the issue further. RECOMMENDATION That you note the detail above and agree to meet with officials to discuss further. 25%
7633%20DRD%202015%200110%20DMs%20Prioritisation%20of%20Roads%20Bridges%20and%20Street%20Lighting%20Maintenance%20Operations%202015%2016%202%20April%20TO%20BE%20ATTACHED%20TO%20RESPONSE.DOCX.docx