Buckinghamshire County Council
Head of Highways Client, Transport Services
Candidate Information Pack
January 2016
Contents
Page
§ Welcome Letter from the Transport Services Cabinet
Member and the Managing Director of Transport ∙
Economy ∙ Environment 3
§ Introductory Video from Interim Director of Transport
Services 4
§ About Buckinghamshire County Council 5
§ Context of the Role 7
§ The Role 11
§ The Person 13
§ Terms of Appointment 16
§ How to Apply 18
§ Indicative Timetable 20
§ Further Information 20
Welcome Letter from the Transport Services Cabinet Member and the Managing Director of Transport ∙ Economy ∙ Environment
Thank you for your interest in coming to join us as Head of Highways Client, within our Transport ∙ Economy ∙ Environment Business Unit. Innovative, entrepreneurial and highly collaborative with a focus on creating the Buckinghamshire of tomorrow. This is your chance to make a lasting impact on our county and its people.
This high profile role is exciting and challenging and as an established member of the Business Unit’s Extended Leadership Team, you will be the Head of Service and will lead, manage and direct the client side team in securing the delivery of the Transport for Buckinghamshire contract and related activities.
The Buckinghamshire landscape is an ever changing and exciting one. Our regional presence that presents even more opportunity to develop forward thinking, avant-garde service models and partnerships.
Working to the Director of Transport Services, we are looking for an experienced and seasoned transport professional with an excellent grounding in transport operations including, but not limited to, frontline highways maintenance and improvements, and management of major externalised service contracts.
The successful candidate will be an advocate of innovation, excellence and efficiency. You will need to be focused, determined, resilient and committed to success in continually improving the County’s highways.
You will be able to positively and confidently advise and assist Cabinet Members and other elected representatives in decision making and giving guidance to service delivery and improvement.
Budget and performance management will be a fundamental cornerstone to success, particularly in the current national and local finance environment.
The ability to influence and guide both directly and indirectly managed teams – client and delivery partners - will be crucial to ensuring that a partnership ethos pervades. Political skills will need to be finely honed and capable of adapting to what can be a volatile, challenging and evolving frontline universal service at the forefront of what residents, businesses and visitors experience every day.
We very much look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Mark ShawCabinet Member for Transport Services / Neil Gibson
Managing Director, Transport, Economy and Environment
Introductory Video Clip from the Interim Director of Transport Services
Click here to view a video clip from Mike Freestone, Interim Director of Transport Services.
About Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire is a very attractive and diverse county which lies within easy reach of central London and the South East, bordering Oxford in the West and the outskirts of London in the East.The County is proud to have some really outstanding areas of natural beauty, including the Chilterns, the Vale of Aylesburyand stretches of the River Thames, as well asthe growing townsof Aylesbury and High Wycombe.What helps to define Buckinghamshire and what makes it special are venues such as theOlympic Rowing Venue at Dorney,Pinewood Studios, the Prime Ministers Chequersretreat and Stoke Mandeville Stadium (the birth place of the Paralympics). These nationally important locations as well as twice the national average of Voluntary and Community Sector organisations and a combination of rural and urban challenges, brings complexity and theneed for policies and infrastructure which can react, flex and proactively drive a wide-ranging agenda for our many different community needs.
Buckinghamshire County Councilis an historically high performing, well led organisation with a good track record of achievement – albeit this reputation has taken a hit with our children’s services now being in ‘special measures’. In this context we are well placed to tackle the varied and sometimes challenging set of priorities that we face. We have good links with our District Councils, other public agencies and theprivate sector. These relationships and their ongoing successful management will continue to be critical to developing and delivering services that are relevant and tailored to the diverse needs of local communities across Buckinghamshire.
Restructure – Future Shape
The age of austerity is set to continue until at least 2020 if not beyond. The world is changing and Buckinghamshire County Council needs to change with it. We could continue to salami-slice budgets and start cutting services, but we have chosen to operate commercially by taking the best of the private sector and merging it with the best of the public sector. The Future Shape programme will enable us to be financially self-reliant and continue to improve outcomes and deliver high quality services for the people of Buckinghamshire.
The Future sShape model enables us to operate more commercially —empowering Business Units to be entrepreneurial — innovating, driving down costs and making it easier for our customers to do business with us.
Our structures are changing but the real change will be driven through our new processes and ways of operating.
The key features of Future Shape will be:
· We implement solutions that will ensure the Council is financially sustainable and more self-reliant to tackle the social and economic challenges now and for the years ahead.
· Members will set priorities with residents and ensure that they are delivered through stronger outcomes-based commissioning and performance management.
· Residents will find it easier to do business with us, be able to serve themselves and get better access to services delivered digitally.
· Services will be delivered with key partners and through a wider mix of cost effective, fit for purpose delivery models and providers.
· A leaner, flexible and commercially skilled workforce, who are equipped and incentivised to work together across different structures to deliver our priorities.
· We will continue to make better use of all our resources and assets and everyone will be aware of opportunities to innovate.
We appreciate there is a lot to do; organisations don’t change overnight. This is an ambitious programme of change in order for us to become a commercially-minded council.
We have an opportunity to create an organisation that is future proof — charting new waters. With a strong Member steer we believe that together we can deliver the change we need.
Context of the Role
Transport ∙ Economy ∙ Environment Business Unit
The Transport, Economy and Environment (TEE) Business Unit was confirmed as one of four new Business Units proposed as part of the Council’s Future Shape transformation programme and new operating model.
Within the Business Unit we have a diverse portfolio of business areas from Waste and Regeneration to Strategic Business Planning and Operational Highways. Five Delivery Units (as outlined below) were created and each unit is headed up by a Director.
· Director of Strategic Planning & Commercial Development
· Director of Growth & Strategy
· Director of Regeneration & Infrastructure
· Director of Environment Services
· Director of Transport Services
Individually the Directors have full budget and operational responsibility for the performance of their functional areas, and work directly with the Finance Director and their relevant Cabinet Members. With the Managing Director, the Directors collectively form the TEE Leadership Team.
TEE’s key objective is to respond to strategic outcomes set by the Council (Cabinet and Headquarters) through the delivery of transportation, economic growth and environment services for Buckinghamshire, the place and its communities, both now and in the future. In broader terms TEE is a service provider and a facilitator on behalf of the Council to Buckinghamshire as a whole.
The current Strategic Plan objectives key to the Business Unit are:
· Safeguarding our vulnerable
· Creating opportunities and building self-reliance
· Keeping Buckinghamshire thriving and attractive
Growth & Strategy
Incorporating all economic growth, statutory plan making, and strategy development linked to transport, economy, environment and infrastructure.
Regeneration & Infrastructure
Manage the development and implementation of our major regeneration initiatives, new build schemes and infrastructure programmes, working in partnership with others.
Transport Services
Oversee all of our Operational Highways, Client Transport and Public Transport Services.
Environment Services
Manage all of our Operational and Regulatory Waste and Environment Services.
Strategic Business Planning & Commercial Development
Provide business insight and professional expertise in financial management, performance, assurance, customer insight, business development and improvement, horizon scanning and the commissioning of services.
What we do
Buckinghamshire, one of the fastest growing economies in the UK, is facing an exciting period of major growth: £55m of infrastructure investment, high-profile business developments at Pinewood and Silverstone, major housing growth proposed in Aylesbury and High Wycombe, an unprecedented range of national infrastructure schemes and much more to come.
Our aim within TEE is to manage the major growth pressures within Buckinghamshire in a tough financial climate. Commercial and innovative, we are developing policies that strike the right balance between environment protection and growth.
We are adopting innovative solutions to service delivery and growth through our own Buckinghamshire Development Company, devolving services to parish councils, creating big data partnerships in transport and landscape and introducing new models of delivery in client transport.
We partner with businesses and community sectors in virtually everything we do; playing to the strengths of these sectors to deliver first class services to our customers.
Shaping the Future
Across TEE and in close partnership with external organisations, we are driving a number of major infrastructure projects, including HS2 mitigation, East West Rail and Energy from Waste.
Energy from Waste
At the forefront of our waste management strategy, the Energy from Waste facility being built by FCC Environment for Buckinghamshire County Council is officially due to open in Spring 2016. It will thermally treat up to 300,000 tonnes of residual waste per annum, comprising of both household and commercial waste that would have otherwise been sent to landfill. The contract is worth £275m and will save Buckinghamshire tax payers over £150m over the 30-year life of the contract.
HS2
High Speed 2, the proposed new railway that will run from London to Birmingham, will have a huge impact on Buckinghamshire. We are engaging with HS2 Ltd through the parliamentary process and we have sought to ensure that the very best mitigation is put in place.
East West Rail
East West Rail will establish a strategic railway connecting East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England. It is our role to ensure that the East West Rail project delivers on expectations for Buckinghamshire residents.
OneTransport
OneTransport – funded by Innovate UK – will see the creation of a transport data hub, which companies, app developers and other local authorities can access for a small fee. Transforming how we use transport data, we will have a complete view of traffic flows and information, enabling a regional response to traffic and incident planning.
And there’s more…
From 007 to Dragons’ Den – Buckinghamshire is home to the UK’s answer to Hollywood and is a hotbed for successful business start-ups. Find out what else puts us ahead...
· If we put all the roads and footways we look after into a straight line, they would stretch from Aylesbury to New York
· Ambitious plans to transform Aylesbury into a ‘destination of choice’ are underway
· We’re home to the world famous Pinewood Studios – where Star Wars, Harry Potter and James Bond movies were shot
· Our new Energy from Waste Plant will produce enough energy to meet the demands of up to 36,000 homes
· Last year we filled over 14,000 dangerous potholes
· By 2016, an estimated 52,500 plus homes in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire will enjoy superfast broadband connectivity, with speeds of up to 80Mbps through the Connected Counties programme in conjunction with BT
· In the last 8 years, we have invested over £100m to improve our roads
· We look after three Country Parks covering 850 acres - they attract more than 750,000 visitors a year
· Buckinghamshire's new business formation rate of 89.4 businesses for every 10,000 residents is the 3rd highest of all 27 county council areas
· With over half of businesses formed in Buckinghamshire in 2010 still trading, the county has the 2nd highest three year survival rate of any county council area
· We aim to increase the county’s recycling rate to 60%
Our Workforce
A large part of our service provision is outsourced to external providers and as a result, we are a smaller Business Unit compared to that of our internal partners (Children Social Care & Learning, Communities, Health & Adult Social Care and Business Services Plus), with a current headcount of 202.
Whilst we are a smaller Business Unit, we do recognise that our workforce is our biggest asset. TEE has developed a People Agenda to ensure that people are at the heart of strategic and operational decisions. This People Agenda covers a number of strategies including engagement, recruitment and retention, health and wellbeing, reward and recognition, learning and development, performance management and organisational change.
Our Finances
For 2015/16 TEE has a planned expenditure of £200m with a total income of £45m. By 2019/20 the income levels will be 44% of the net budget.
The annual value of the Business Units platinum contracts (those worth in excess of £1m per annum) is £68m and from 2016/17 we will be managing 79% of spend of the Council’s top 5 platinum contracts.
Transport Services
Main service provision area lies with Ringway Jacobs contracted as Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB) who employ c.250 staff in the delivery of highways maintenance management including traffic management, streetworks and parking functions in an open book partnership, acting as the County to its Highways Act et al responsibilities. This partnership has been ongoing and evolving since 2009 and is set to run up to 2024 as a maximum.
An improvement/transformation plan has been in place and continues to drive the partnership.