Agenda item - HIGHWAYS FORWARD PROGRAMME (2022-2023)

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

The Local Committee (Reigate & Banstead) agreed that:

General

(i) The Local Committee’s devolved highways budget for capital works in 2022/23 was £828,390.

(ii) The devolved capital budget for highway works be used to progress both capital improvement schemes and member capital allocation as detailed in Section 1 of the committee report.

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

(iv) The Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager be authorised, 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) The capital improvement schemes allocation for Reigate & Banstead be used to progress the Major Integrated Transport Schemes programme set out in Annex 1 of the committee report.

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

(vii) The Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager, in line with the Scheme of Delegation, be 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 would be reported back to the appropriate county member.

Member Capital Allocation

(viii) To note 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 could be used on capital maintenance (recommended option). The schemes would to be proposed by county members in consultation with the Stakeholder Engagement Officer.

Revenue Maintenance

(ix) To note that there will continue to be a Member Local Highways Fund (revenue) allocation of £7,500 per county member to address highway issues in their division; and

(x) That each county member allocated £6,000 of their Member Local Highways Fund allocation to be pooled to commission a revenue maintenance gang.

(xi) That revenue works would 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 Reigate & Banstead for 2022/23, funded from budgets available to enable schemes and works to progress these schemes.

Officer in attendance: Zena Curry, Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager

The Committee considered a report seeking approval of a programme of highway works for Reigate & Banstead funded from the Local Committee’s delegated capital and revenue budgets.

There were questions regarding how schemes had been prioritised on the new Integrated Transport Schemes (ITS) list and the difference between the figures for scheme development in comparison to the report received last year. The Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager described how schemes were prioritised through the CASEE scoring system. It was agreed that the Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager would re-circulate the complete ITS list and information about the different funding streams available to members in the 2022/23 financial year.

There was a specific question asked around the possibility of being able to bring schemes forward if they could be funded through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). It was noted that this could be included as evidence of local support for a scheme through the prioritisation process, however this would need to be weighed against the available engineering resource and opportunity to carry out feasibility studies. The Highways Engagement and Commissioning Manager stated that she would be happy to meet with particular members to discuss specific schemes if that was useful.

Some members asked about specific schemes and when they would be implemented. In particular the latest position on the Chetwode Road discussions. It was noted that discussions were in place, and that the latest position would be emailed to the divisional member. It was also noted that if members or residents had any road markings that needed refreshing, they should log it onto the Council’s website which would then be assessed alongside other requests in the borough.

The Local Committee (Reigate & Banstead) AGREED that: