Agenda item

At the 14 December 2015 Local Committee, Members agreed a programme of revenue and capital highway works in Reigate and Banstead.  An amended programme of works was agreed on 7March 2016 to take account of the reduced revenue budget.  Delegated authority was given to enable the forward programme to be progressed without the need to bring further reports to the Local Committee for decision.  This report sets out recent progress.  The report also updates Members on the progress of the Wider Network Benefits (East) scheme, the A217 Resilience Scheme, the Greater Redhill Sustainable Transport Package, the Epsom and Banstead Sustainable Transport Package and the number of enquiries received from customers.

Revised Report and Annex 2 attached

The Committee NOTED the contents of the report and:

(i)    APPROVED the establishment of the M25 Junction 8 Improvements Task Group.

(ii)   NOMINATED the following Members to sit on the task group: Mrs Dorothy Ross-Tomlin; Mr Bob Gardner; Mr Ken Gulati; Cllr Frank Kelly and Cllr Roger Newstead.

(iii)  DELEGATED authority to the Travel and Transport Group Manager, in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Local Committee, to agree the terms of reference for the M25 Junction 8 Improvements Task Group.

(iv)REQUESTED that the Area Team Manager discuss with each divisional Member their requests for local priority schemes in their division for inclusion in the Horizon 2 Roads Major Maintenance Programme (HRMM) before 16 January 2017.

(v)  AUTHORISED the Area Team Manager, in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Local Committee to finalise the list of local priority schemes for inclusion in the Horizon 2 Roads Major Maintenance Programme (HRMM) by 31 January 2017, following consideration of the selection of schemes (set out in Annex 3 to the report submitted) at the 16 January 2017 informal meeting of the Local Committee.

REASONS:

To update the Local Committee on the progress of the highway works programme in Reigate & Banstead; to facilitate the consideration of the proposed improvements by Highways England to Junction 8 of the M25 and to advise the Local Committee on these improvements, and to enable the progression of the Horizon 2 Roads Major Maintenance Programme within Reigate & Banstead following input from Members of the Local Committee.

Declarations of Interest: None

Officers attending: Zena Curry, Area Highway Manager; Tommy Whittingham, Route Sponsor, M25 London Orbital (East), Highways England

Petitions, Public Questions, Statements: None

Supplementary Papers: A second revision to the report was tabled together with Annex 3. These papers are attached to the minutes as Appendix A.

Member Discussion – key points:

·         Members raised concerns regarding the proposals set out in Annex 3 to the report submitted and recommendation (iv) as set out in the report. Concerns were raised that some roads which required reconstruction were no longer on the list. As a result, the Committee agreed to revise recommendation (iv) and add a new recommendation (v), enabling further discussion of the schemes at the informal meeting of the Committee on 16 January 2017. This was voted on and agreed.

·         The Area Highway Manager explained that all roads had been re-inspected using the new Asset Management Prioritisation Matrix. Due to the winter floods of 2013/14, some roads had been given higher priority due to flood damage, resulting in other roads being deemed lower priority.

·         The Chairman informed Members that she had requested that the worst roads in the county should be prioritised, but this view had not been shared by the other Local Committee Chairmen.

·         It was noted that Princess Way, Redhill, was due to be resurfaced following the completion of the Balanced Network, and that there were drainage issues in London Road that needed to be tackled before resurfacing. The Area Highway Manager agreed to confirm the position on these roads outside the meeting. She also agreed to confirm the position regarding the Section 106 contribution from the Sainsbury’s development.

·         A number of Members pointed out inaccuracies in the list, including roads that had already been resurfaced.

·         The Area Highway Manager reported that a separate 4B Network list would cover roads that did not require full reconstruction.

·         A question was asked regarding the Holly Lodge crossing. The Area Highway Manager reported that feedback on average speed cameras was awaited in order to make an uncontrolled crossing more viable.

·         Discussion also took place regarding the establishment of a task group to consider the proposed improvements to M25 Junction 8 by Highways England. Tommy Whittingham, the Highways England officer responsible for this section of the motorway, introduced himself to Members and reported that construction was likely to be finished by the end of 2018/19.

The Local Committee (Reigate & Banstead) NOTED the report and:

(i)    APPROVED the establishment of the M25 Junction 8 Improvements Task Group.

(ii)   NOMINATED the following Members to sit on the task group: Mrs Dorothy Ross-Tomlin; Mr Bob Gardner; Mr Ken Gulati; Cllr Frank Kelly and Cllr Roger Newstead.

(iii)  DELEGATED authority to the Travel and Transport Group Manager, in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Local Committee, to agree the terms of reference for the M25 Junction 8 Improvements Task Group.

(iv)REQUESTED that the Area Team Manager discuss with each divisional Member their requests for local priority schemes in their division for inclusion in the Horizon 2 Roads Major Maintenance Programme (HRMM) before 16 January 2017.

(v)  AUTHORISED the Area Team Manager, in consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Local Committee to finalise the list of local priority schemes for inclusion in the Horizon 2 Roads Major Maintenance Programme (HRMM) by 31 January 2017, following consideration of the selection of schemes (set out in Annex 3 to the report submitted) at the 16 January 2017 informal meeting of the Local Committee.