To consider a report from the Executive Member for Climate Change and Transport Strategy.

The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment gave his apologies to the Committee for the late submission of the report and explained that it was due to disruption caused by the holiday period, the complex nature of the subject, and the constant changes in the asset. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment gave a brief introduction to the item in which he stated that the road network was the Council’s largest asset in terms of both value and scale. 

The Principal Engineering Manager went through a condensed version of presentation that had been circulated as part of the agenda pack. The Committee were informed the HIAMP was a Council document that was publicly available. The Principal Engineering Manager explained how the document had evolved over time with the monitoring of carbon emissions being added and the impacts of extreme weather having changed the problems people faced.

The presentation included a description of the HIMAP and the work the team did to maintain the road network. The Principal Engineering Manager informed the Committee of the overall deterioration of the road networks in Trafford and how the amount of funding available had reduced. On the positive side the move to LED lighting across the borough represented a large benefit to the Council, especially when the recent price increase in electricity was considered.

The Principal Engineering Manager went into detail on how data was gathered and fed into the software the Council used to monitor the condition of the roads, which ensured it was data driven approach based upon accurate live information. The Committee were informed of the different classifications of road and that the funding provided for Trafford’s Highways was linked to the delivery of the asset management plan.

The Principal Engineering Manager showed the Committee a slide which explained the life cycle of a road with a need for regular maintenance to ensure the asset maintained its standard. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment informed the Committee that the further down the quality of a road sloped into the red zones on the chart the more it cost to bring the road back to a green or yellow standard.

The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment then spoke to the Committee of the continued deterioration of the road network since 2016 and informed Committee Members that the additional funding received in the previous year had reduced the number of red by 1.5% and had also stopped the number of red roads increasing by 5%. The Committee were told about the backlog of work needed across the areas highways and that to deliver a 10% improvement across the highway network would require an investment of £64M over 10 years.

The Principal Engineering Manager moved on to talk about the condition of footpaths in the area. The Committee were advised that it would require £1.49M of investment per year to keep the quality of the footpaths at steady state. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment added that the Council were looking to have additional investment in the pathways to aid with disability access.

The presentation contained details of the approach for streetlighting including testing and maintenance schedules. The Principal Engineering Manager Informed the Committee that the service was not looking at new types of street lighting but rather having a standard style of streetlights across the borough to achieve savings through stock management. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment stated that the increase in inflation had been an issue for streetlighting and while the Council had done what they could to build a stock of street lighting parts and equipment it would not last forever.

The next area covered was drainage and Committee Members were shown that the renewal capital allocation was increasing year on year. The Committee were informed of the issues with the network which included sections being of different ages and with different materials used across the network. Those issues were being exacerbated by the increase in the number of floods each year that damaged the drainage system. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment assured the Committee that Trafford were improving the management of the drainage system year on year as they gathered more data, but this was counteracted by the issues with the network.

The Chair raised a question about the damage done by tree routes to the drainage system. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment responded that about 95% of the network was within 25 feet of trees and so the service was not able to review all the areas where tree routes could be causing damage.

Councillor Axford asked whether any work was ongoing to tackle the wider factors that impacted drainage such as informing people of the impact of paving driveways, which decreased the amount of permeable land. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment responded that there was not any work being done in that area, but it was something the service could look at doing.

Councillor Axford asked whether the Council were putting in sustainable drainage across Trafford. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment responded that the Council was supporting sustainable drainage for new developments through the implementation of the Trafford design guide.

Councillor Axford asked the impact not clearing leaves had upon drainage. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment responded that not clearing leaves blocked drainage. The impact of leaves had been particularly bad this year as the cold snap had meant a lot of trees lost their leaves at the same time, which had led to issues with drainage across the borough.

Councillor Thompson asked how data was collected about roads flooding. The Principal Engineering Manager answered that the service collected information on the position of incidents and that information was fed into the system which helped to predict flooding for each year. Councillor Thompson stated that Councillors could help to add data points to the data set. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment encouraged all Councillors to contact the service whenever they were aware of an incident of flooding.

Councillor Winstanley asked how the Council worked with United Utilities. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment responded that the Council had a dedicated officer who worked alongside United Utilities and other providers to manage the network. The Chair stated that the work with United Utilities was an area that the Committee could investigate in greater detail.

Councillor Procter asked whether assumptions were made within the plan and what they were. The Principal Engineering Manager stated that there were assumptions made within the plan and gave some examples. However, the Council worked closely with United Utilities and other companies to ensure the data was fresh to reduce the assumptions relied upon.

Councillor Zhi spoke of leaves being a large issue in his area for drainage and whether there was a quick fix team who could help. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment stated that had a lack of resources and the team were not able to tackle all the issues across the borough. However, this was one area that residents could help with by clearing blockages they saw as it did not require specialist knowledge or equipment.

Councillor Frass asked how much the knowledge of Councillors was utilised as a source of information within the HIAMP. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment responded that it was an engineering statement of fact based upon the information standards set by the Department for Transport and Transport for Greater Manchester. The Principal Engineering Manager added that information from complaints received from Councillors and residents were factored into the data and helped to refine the information.

Councillor Frass asked whether there was a driveability standard for potholes or if just based on hitting the limits. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment answered that unfortunately the service had to focus upon major defects but if the condition of the road improved to a point where all of those had been address then they would move onto other considerations like drivability.

The next part of the presentation covered the work done to maintain structures.  The Principal Engineering Manager spoke of the different types of inspections done and gave an example of a good bridge. The Committee were informed of the overall value of the structures and the ways the Council could invest in the assets. There had not been adequate investment within structures and so they were also a deteriorating asset. The Principal Engineering Manager then gave a brief overview of road signage and markings and informed the Committee of the assets and the issues the council faced around signage impacted by people and trees.

The Principal Engineering Manager concluded the presentation with a summary which covered all the areas. The annual investment in the road network was £4M and for the Council to maintain steady state would require an additional £11M over the next 10 years. The Committee were assured that the service took advantage of all funding available both from the Government and Greater Manchester.

The Leader thanked officers for the presentation and spoke of how much he had learned from it. The Leader noted the comments made by the Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment about it being a national problem and stated that he would look to work across councils to lobby the Government to address the issues.

Councillor Coggins noted that the presentation did not cover the length of segregated cycle lanes and asked if that information was available.  The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment responded that they could add the data around the length of segregated cycle routes. That figure would hopefully be a lot more in the next few years following the successful implementation of plans linking to the Mayors Challenge Fund and the Urmston Active Neighbourhood.

Councillor Coggins asked about barriers on pavements and whether there were any views to remove them. The Councillor spoke about the barriers around Stretford and the issues they caused for pedestrians. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment answered that the Council were looking at a programme of decluttering pavements and removing barriers. As part of that work health and safety assessments were required before the barriers could be removed.

Councillor Coggins noted that the carbon reduction due to LEDs was listed but there was no mention of the large carbon footprint of the highways. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment responded that the service was required to report carbon emissions on all the projects undertaken as part of the HIAMP and that information could be provided to the committee. The Principal Engineering Manager added that there had been a big improvement in terms of the carbon emissions of the materials used by the Council in recent years.

The Governance Officer asked whether the wider impacts of the deterioration of the roads were known. The Director of Highways, Transport, and Environment responded that the service did monitor the impact of the deterioration of roads on the Trafford economy. The Principal Engineering Manager added that it was difficult to say when an asset was reaching a tipping point as the service had only recently begun collecting detailed data as new measurement tools became available. The Committee were assured that as the level of information increased the ability in judging the risks associated with the deterioration of an asset would improve.

The Chair noted the wide range of issues discussed during this item and that there were several areas where Committee Members input into the HIAMP.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the update be noted.

2)    That the HIAMP be considered further by the Committee.