Agenda item

This report seeks approval of a programme of highway works for Elmbridge funded from the Local Committee’s delegated capital and revenue budgets.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Local Committee (Elmbridge):

General

(i) Noted that the Local Committee’s devolved highways budget for capital works in 2022/23 is £755,551 as agreed by Cabinet on 22^nd February 2022.

(ii) Agreed that the devolved capital budget for highway works be used to progress both capital improvement schemes and member capital allocation as detailed in section 1.

(iii) Authorised that the Highway Engagement & Commissioning Manager in consultation with county members to be able to reallocate budget to reserve schemes should there be a need to change the programme.

(iv) Authorised that the Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager in consultation with county members, be able to allocate any additional funding for schemes, in accordance with any guidance issued surrounding that funding.

Capital Improvement Schemes

(v) Agreed that the capital improvement schemes allocation for Elmbridge be used to progress the Major Integrated Transport Schemes programme set out in Annex 1 (recommended option).

(vi) Authorised that the Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager be able to vire money between the programme of schemes agreed in Annex 1, if required.

(ix) Agreed that the Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager, in line with the Scheme of Delegation, is able to progress any scheme from the Major Integrated Transport Schemes programme, including consultation and statutory advertisement that may be required under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, for completion of those schemes. Where it is agreed that a scheme will not be progressed, this will be reported back to the appropriate county member.

Member Capital Allocation

(x) Noted that £50,000 is allocated to each divisional member. Up to £15,000 of this could be allocated to minor ITS, or all £50,000 on capital maintenance (recommended option). The schemes are to be agreed by county members in consultation with the Stakeholder Engagement Officer.

Revenue Maintenance

(xi) Noted that the members will continue to receive a Member Local Highways Fund (revenue) allocation of £7,500 per county member to address highway issues in their division; and

(xii) Agreed that all county member allocate £2,222 of their Member Local Highways Fund allocation to be pooled as a contribution to Elmbridge Borough Council’s Street Smart Team.

(xiii)Agreed that revenue works are to be managed by the Highway Maintenance team on behalf of and in consultation with county members.

REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

To agree, a programme of highways works in Elmbridge for 2022/23, funded from budgets available to enable schemes and works to progress.

Declarations of Interest: None

Officer Attending: Zena Curry, Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager

Petitions, Public Questions and Statements: None

Key points from discussion:

The Engagement and Commissioning Manager outlined the draft budget report, the funds available for Members and the two options for handling the budget for 2022/23, the first (Option 1) agreeing the proposed prioritised ITS list as laid out by the officers and arrived at following discussion prior to this meeting, the second (Option 2) dividing the capital budget equally between county councillors. Additional funds had also been made available county-wide to cover road safety outside schools.

Members discussed the relative merits of Options 1 and 2. While the point was made that some Divisions had no schemes on the Option 1 list despite some locally important ones being requested, it was noted that this list included schemes for which design work had already been started, and larger schemes could be delivered than would be achievable under Option 2.

There were also comments that the scoring system used to arrive at the prioritised list was subjective.

It was explained that for 2023/24 each member will be asked to suggest one project per division. The new Stakeholder Engagement Officer had already been in touch with members to ask them for nominations of projects and will continue to liaise to ensure the best selection of schemes. This list needs to be finalised by September this year so that all the projects county-wide can be considered for prioritisation.

The established CASEE scoring will be reviewed during the development of the new process, for example to take account of the Greener Futures initiative. The Community Network Approach will also be important for enabling members and communities to bring the right people into the conversation to determine local priorities. Ward members were considered key stakeholders in the process and the Chairman stressed the importance of County Councillors working with the ward members to ensure that all views were heard.

It was confirmed that Elmbridge Borough Council was continuing with its support for the StreetSmart scheme. Information would be circulated outlining what the StreetSmart team can work on and how to contact them to ask for work to be done.

CIL was highlighted as a possible source of alternative funding for schemes. Strategic CIL is linked with projects on the Infrastructure Delivery Plan which are larger than those on the ITS list. Neighbourhood CIL is more appropriate for schemes of a scale that the committee would consider and a number of applications have been made. Any new applications would need to start from the beginning with feasibility and design in a very short time-frame as the application deadline is the end of March.

The Engagement and Commissioning Manager agreed to provide a list of the main schemes that had been completed over last 4 years and how much had been spent.

In relation to recommendation (ix) the Engagement and CommissioningManager clarified that it related to the rare occasions when a scheme could not be progressed because of technical issues such as previously unknown utility infrastructure.

Members voted on recommendations (v) to (ix) separately to ensure a clear indication of the choice of Option 1 or Option 2.

Option 1: nine in favour

Option 2: four in favour

Abstentions: one

Resolved: