Agenda item

RESOLVED:

1.    That the award of contract for the works for the Meadows Gyratory Improvement Scheme to the recommended contractor as detailed in the submitted Part 2 report be approved.

2.    That the allocation of up to £646,000 from the Place Development capital budget to meet the funding shortfall be approved.

Reasons for decisions:

The aim of this project was to improve the transport network in Surrey Heath to deliver journey time reliability, increased accessibility, reduced journey time and encourage shift in modes of transport.

The Meadows Gyratory Improvement scheme will deliver the following outcomes:

·         Reduced delays and reduced congestion on this busy gyratory.

·         Improved access to Camberley town centre for all modes of transport.

·         Improved signal crossings and traffic islands to protect pedestrians and cyclists.

·         A positive impact on employment resulting from improved accessibility to make the area more attractive for businesses to invest and help improve the attractiveness of retail and leisure in the area.

·         The scheme will help to enable to generate approximately 540 full time employment (FTE) jobs by helping to fill Camberley’s vacant employment space and contribute to securing around 210 Full Time Equivalent (‘FTE’) at the London Road Revitalisation Area site. In addition, approximately 1,000 transport and storage jobs in the area could be secured as a result of the scheme.

·         The provision of improved pedestrian and cycling facilities will be of benefit to those living in areas of relative deprivation and provide good quality alternative options to the car, using walking, cycling, bus/rail to access areas of employment, retail and educational establishments.

·         The reduction in travel time through Meadows will help improve business and staff productivity caused by less work commuting and driver stress. This will contribute to the increase in efficiency of logistics to local business parks.

The biggest benefits are for movements approaching the roundabout on the A30 to the West of the junction and, in particular, those turning right as those vehicles no longer need to traverse the roundabout. There is also generally benefit for traffic approaching from the A321 as these movements are no longer opposed by the large flow from West to South traversing the roundabout.

A competitive tender for the works for Meadows Gyratory Improvement Scheme is complete. The offer from the recommended Tenderer named in Annex 1 provides best value for money.

The Meadows Gyratory is a key location in the highway network and a critical concern is the impact on the local network during the construction period.  As a result, a decision was taken to delay the works until the completion of the M3 Smart Motorway and to undertake the works at night.  These factors have resulted in cost increases from the original estimates.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Environment and Infrastructure Select Committee]

The Cabinet Member for Highways introduced this report and highlighted the following details from it. The Meadows was a major gyratory providing connectivity between the M3 with the A30 and a key access route into Camberley town centre. High levels of congestion on this strategic highway network led to significant and regular queuing on the A30, A331 and A321 approaches. Improvements to the Meadows Gyratory aimed to reduce delays and reduce congestion. The proposed scheme addressed the constraints and capacity issues, improving access to Camberley town centre for all modes of transport. The improvements were an important component to ensure the future well-being of Camberley and resilience on the A30.

Following assessment of tenders received from contractors under the GEN3-2 Civil Engineering, Highways and Infrastructure Works Framework, a competitive tender process was complete. The project was at a stage where Cabinet’s approval was sought to approve the award of the contract for the works to the recommended tenderer.   

As a result of decisions to minimise disruption on the network, namely to deliver the scheme at night and to delay implementation until completion of the M3 Smart Motorway, the final cost of the scheme exceeded the approved budget, by £646,000. It was reported that residents and businesses had expressed support for the night time delivery work.

The Business Case has reported that the scheme would contribute to an increase of 1,675 jobs worth £86m Gross Value Added (GVA) to the local area. Additionally this investment in road building, new retail floorspace and housing development would generate a total of £288m of new investment for the area.

Consultation with local businesses and residents was held in 2016 and 2017 with the support of the Yorktown and Watchmoor Business Association. The public were consulted on the scheme at the A30/Camberley Town Centre Highway Improvements Pubic Consultation held in 2017. Surrey County Council (SCC) had demonstrated that it actively acted on feedback from the public as SCC had introduced changes to the traffic management plans for the A331 Orange Cycle Route and Stanhope Road Junction construction to further reduce the inconvenience caused by the construction work.

The business case has been produced in partnership and with the support of Surrey Heath Borough Council who were providing significant matched funding for the scheme.  

Cabinet Members expressed their support for night working as this would cause the least upheaval for residents.

The Cabinet unanimously agreed the recommendations.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the award of contract for the works for the Meadows Gyratory Improvement Scheme to the recommended contractor, as detailed in the Part 2 report, be approved.

2.    That the allocation of up to £646,000 from the Place Development capital budget to meet the funding shortfall be approved.

Reasons for decisions:

The aim of this project was to improve the transport network in Surrey Heath to deliver journey time reliability, increased accessibility, reduced journey time and encourage shift in modes of transport.

The Meadows Gyratory Improvement scheme would deliver the following outcomes:

·         Reduced delays and reduced congestion on this busy gyratory.

·         Improved access to Camberley town centre for all modes of transport.

·         Improved signal crossings and traffic islands to protect pedestrians and cyclists.

·         A positive impact on employment resulting from improved accessibility to make the area more attractive for businesses to invest and help improve the attractiveness of retail and leisure in the area.

·         The scheme would help to enable to generate approximately 540 full time employment (FTE) jobs by helping to fill Camberley’s vacant employment space and contribute to securing around 210 Full Time Equivalent (‘FTE’) at the London Road Revitalisation Area site. In addition, approximately 1,000 transport and storage jobs in the area could be secured as a result of the scheme.

• The provision of improved pedestrian and cycling facilities would be of benefit to those living in areas of relative deprivation and provide good quality alternative options to the car, using walking, cycling, bus/rail to access areas of employment, retail and educational establishments.
• The reduction in travel time through Meadows would help improve business and staff productivity caused by less work commuting and driver stress. This would contribute to the increase in efficiency of logistics to local business parks.

The biggest benefits were for movements approaching the roundabout on the A30 to the West of the junction and, in particular, those turning right as those vehicles would no longer need to traverse the roundabout. There was also generally benefit for traffic approaching from the A321 as these movements were no longer opposed by the large flow from West to South traversing the roundabout.

A competitive tender for the works for Meadows Gyratory Improvement Scheme was complete. The offer from the recommended Tenderer named in Annex 1 provided best value for money.

The Meadows Gyratory was a key location in the highway network and a critical concern was the impact on the local network during the construction period.  As a result, a decision was taken to delay the works until the completion of the M3 Smart Motorway and to undertake the works at night.  These factors had resulted in cost increases from the original estimates.