HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

HIGHWAYS AND TRANSPORT PANEL

THURSDAY 30th MARCH 2006 at 10.00 am

MAINTAINING A VITAL ASSET

Report of the Director of the Environment

Author: Mike Younghusband (Tel: 01707 356554)

Executive Members :- Derrick Ashley and Stuart Pile

1 / Purpose of Report
1.1 / To introduce the Panel to the UK Road Liaison Group’s document “Maintaining a Vital Asset” and recommend that a joint officer and member working group is formed to support the review of Hertfordshire’s highway maintenance strategies and levels of service.
2 / Summary
2.1 / The UK Road Liaison Group’s document “Maintaining a Vital Asset” draws together and contextualizes the latest approaches to highway maintenance and management. Hertfordshire County Council needs to review its own service levels and maintenance strategies in light of new codes of practice and government guidance summarised in the document. It is recommended that the review is supported by a joint officer and member working group to operate through Summer 2006, which would subsequently report to Highways & Transport Panel.
3 / Conclusion
3.1 / The Panel is requested to note the document “Maintaining a Vital Asset” and endorse the concept of a joint officer and member working group to support the review of Hertfordshire’s highway maintenance strategies and service levels.
4 / Background
4.1 / The UK Road Liaison Group’s document “Maintaining a Vital Asset,” (see Appendix A) was published in late 2005, with the aim of drawing together and contextualizing the latest approaches to highway maintenance and management.
4.2 / The document highlights the:
  • The recent publication of New Codes of Practice for highway maintenance, street lighting maintenance and highway structures maintenance.
  • The requirement for highway authorities to produce and maintain Highways Asset Management Plans (HAMPS)
  • The requirement for highway authorities to value their highway assets and the importance of linking asset management to financial planning.

4.3 / Whilst Hertfordshire is one of the leading authorities (given that it has already published its first HAMP and has produced its first highways asset valuation) Hertfordshire still needs to:
  • Review its maintenance strategies and levels of service in light of the new codes of practice and customer needs;
  • Review its HAMP and translate it into a Transport Asset Management Plan in accordance with the requirements of LTP2;
  • Update its Asset Valuation
To a certain degree these exercises are interrelated and Hertfordshire Highways are taking them forward in an integrated manner.
4.4 / The first stages of the review, which are well underway include:
  • A gap analysis to identify what the differences are between the strategies or levels of services that Hertfordshire currently deliver and those recommended by the Codes of Practice.
  • An update of the technical content of the HAMP

4.5 / The next stage will be to identify what changes to existing strategies or levels of service could be introduced. Proposed changes may be derived from the Codes of Practice or, of course, from local customer needs.
4.6 / The Code of Practices are not mandatory and HCC can adopt its own standards, however, HCC will need to document reasoned arguments as to why it is not adopting CoP standards and specify its own standards.
4.7 / Given the financial constraints that HCC, like any other Highway Authority, has to work under there may need to be some difficult decisions made. It is quite possible that “trade offs” will be required. For, example, an increased level of service in one field may necessitate a reduction in level of service in another.
5. / Member Working Group
5.1 / It is recommended that a small member (5-6 members) and officer working group is convened to meet regularly (say 3 weekly intervals) through the summer from May 2006 in order to:
  • Gain a more detailed knowledge of the issues and requirements of the Codes of Practice, asset planning and valuation in accordance with “Maintaining a Vital Asset”
  • Gain a detailed appreciation of any differences between the current levels of service provided by Hertfordshire, other authorities and the new codes of practices.
  • Act as a sounding board for officers preparing and evaluating options for revised levels of service.

5.2 / The output from the group would then be reported to Highways & Transport Panel and thence to the Executive Member (and Cabinet as appropriate).
6. / Financial Implications
The review will identify a series of options for changes in levels of services and their financial impacts. These will need to be considered by the Highways & Transport Panel when it receives further reports in Autumn 2006.
Background Papers

Maintaining a Vital Asset – Appendix A

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