Issue - meetings

The Executive Board considered the attached report.

RECOMMENDED: That

(1)       the incorporation of the Transport Implementation Programme for 2009/10, (shown in Appendix A), in the sum of £ 10,840,200, into the Council’s 2009/10 Capital Programme;

(2)               the carrying forward of £1,608,000 of the Local Transport Plan’s Highways Maintenance Borrowing Power approvals for 2008/09 into 2009/10, to facilitate a re-profiling of works associated with the Primary Route Network Bridge Strengthening and Maintenance allocation; and

(3)               the authority to agree the detail of the programmes of work for: Primary Route Network Bridge Strengthening and Maintenance; Adoptions; Flood Defence; and Street Lighting, for the periods 2009/10 and 2010/11, be delegated to the Strategic Director, Environment, in consultation with the Executive Board Member for Planning, Transportation, Regeneration and Renewal.

            The Executive Board had considered a report of the Strategic Director – Environment, which sought approval to: i) the inclusion of the 2009/10 Transport Capital Implementation Programme into the Council’s 2009/10 Capital Programme; and ii), the carry over of £1,6088,01010 of the 2008/09 LTP Maintenance Block Borrowing Approval to 2009/10.

            It was confirmed that funding would be available for improvements to be made for road re-surfacing in terms of pot-holes etc.         

Reason For Decision

The decision is required to include the 2009/10 Transport Capital Implementation Programme into the Council’s 2009/10 Capital Programme and thereby enable the identified works to be undertaken.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

There are no appropriate alternative options to the proposed course of action.

Implementation Date

            The 2009/10 Transport Capital Implementation Programme will commence during April 2009.

            RESOLVED: That the Council approve the following:

1)     The incorporation of the Transport Implementation Programme for 2009/10, (shown in Appendix A), in the sum of £ 10,840,200, into the Council’s 2009/10 Capital Programme;

2)     The carrying forward of £1,608,000 of the Local Transport Plan’s Highways Maintenance Borrowing Power approvals for 2008/09 into 2009/10, to facilitate a re-profiling of works associated with the Primary Route Network Bridge Strengthening and Maintenance allocation; and

3)     The authority  agree the detail of the programmes of work for: Primary Route Network Bridge Strengthening and Maintenance; Adoptions; Flood Defence; and Street Lighting, for the periods 2009/10 and 2010/11, be delegated to the Strategic Director, Environment, in consultation with the Executive Board Member for Planning, Transportation, Regeneration and Renewal.

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Environment, which sought approval to the inclusion of the 2009/10 Transport Capital Implementation Programme into the 2009/10 Capital Programme and the carry over of £1,608,000 of 2008/09 Local Transport Plan (LTP) Maintenance Block Borrowing Approval to 2009/10.

            Members were advised that the second LTP had brought with a much less rigorous reporting requirement, based on a collaborative approach between DfT and the local authorities, to enable weaknesses in progress to be jointly addressed and strengths to be built upon.

            They were further advised that this new approach required the de-coupling of the link between funding and performance, which resulted in the DfT, in its November 2007 Settlement Letter confirming the Integrated Transport Capital block allocations for the period 2008/09 – 2010/11. The Integrated Transport allocation for 2009/10 was £1,831,000.

            Similarly, three year allocations for the Highways Capital Maintenance Block, which were based on a new formula, were also notified and which were set out in the report. The Road Maintenance element of the Highways Block allocation had been reviewed in the context of Performance Indicators for highway maintenance. This led to a prioritisation of non Primary Route Network (PRN) footway reconstruction for the next two years, after which the position would be reassessed. This, in conjunction with a similar review of priorities in the revenue road maintenance programme, would provide an overall budget, for the 2009/10 and 2010/11, which would enable around a doubling in the length of footway reconstruction to be carried out each year. Over £450,000 would be available for carriageway structural maintenance, and this would continue to be supplemented by revenue funding. Performance on the principal and classified road condition indicators were not expected to fall below the top quartile during this period, as a result of re-profiling over this two year period. The Highways Capital Maintenance allocation for 2009/10 was £2,023,000.

            Members were further advised that the individual schemes for the Integrated Transport and Highway Maintenance Block would be drawn from the programmes included in LTP2, which were outlined in Appendix A to the report.

            It was further noted that in addition to the LTP Capital Maintenance Block, Halton was also allocated £14,288,000 of additional funding for use between 2008/09 and 2010/11. This was from the National PRN Bridge Strengthening and Maintenance allocation to enable much needed maintenance and inspection work on the Silver Jubilee Bridge. This funding replaced some of that identified in the SJB Major Maintenance Scheme bid, which was submitted to Government in March 2006 and on which a decision was still awaited. The PRN Bridge Strengthening and Maintenance allocation for 2009/10 was £4,906,000.

            In order to increase the efficiency in the procurement and delivery of all bridge maintenance works in the Borough, a single partnering contractor approach had been pursued. Due to the timescales involved in developing this partnership, there was need to defer £1,608,00 of the PRB Bridge Strengthening and Maintenance allocation, from 2008/08 to 2009/10. The DfT were happy to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 121