Waterloo Road Roundabout, Promenade, Westcliffe Drive

Waterloo Road Roundabout How much did the scheme cost? The works carried out at Waterloo Road Roundabout formed part of a scheme which involved work on a number of areas in the local shopping district. The scheme was delivered as a single contract. Waterloo Road, Waterloo Road Roundabout, Bond Street and the junction of Waterloo Road with Parkinson Way were funded from the Local Transport Plan and the Council’s Capital Expenditure Allocation from the 2008-2009 financial year. The total cost for all these works was identified as £1,370,219. The cost of Waterloo Road Roundabout cannot be exactly identified as the costs were not attributed directly in this way. The best estimate of the cost of this element is approximately £250,000.

Which Council Officers (Job Title and if possible Name) and Councillors approved the design and specification including any use of blocks in the road? The council resolution to proceed with the Waterloo Road District Centre was given in September 2008 by the elected council leaders. The meeting was attended by Cllr Mrs Maxine Callow, Cllr Tony Lee, Cllr Ian Fowler and officers from within the Built Environment, Transportation and Capital Projects teams including John Donnellon, Peter Cross, Clare Nolan-Barnes, Matthew Edwards, Robert Sutcliffe and Jon Stokes.

How much have subsequent repair bills cost, what were they for and where was this funded from? In March 2012, the block work around the Waterloo Road Roundabout was replaced with an asphalt surface due to a number of areas of failure of the surface. Extensive discussions between the Council, the contractor who installed the materials and the manufacturer of the products could not conclusively establish the reasons for the fault. Hence, the cost for the work was shared between the parties. The cost for the repairs was £29,872.73, of which the contractor paid £11,129.69 and the materials supplier funded £10,000 under warranties. The remaining £8,743.04 was funded from the Local Transport Plan Capital Maintenance Fund, although £3,469.90 of this cost was for the supply and installation of new bollards to control vehicle over- ride on to footway areas.

Who was consulted and what was their response? Below are the details of the consultation undertaken in relation to the scheme delivered in the Waterloo Road area. In order to clearly set out what was carried out, the consultation has been split into the three distinct schemes which were displayed, Waterloo Road Pedestrian Plaza Scheme, Bond Street One-Way Scheme and the Waterloo District Centre Scheme:

Waterloo Road Pedestrian Plaza In May 2007, a letter, questionnaire and location plan were sent out to all properties fronting Waterloo Road between Lytham Road and the Promenade, to all properties fronting Bond Street and Bolton Street between Britannia Place and Rawcliffe Street, to all properties on Commercial Street and Bath Street, approximately 200 deliveries in total. 50 questionnaires were returned to the council offices in response.

Waterloo Pedestrian Plaza and Bond Street One-way Scheme In February 2008, an exhibition of the proposals was displayed at the Reassurance Plus meeting at St. Peters Church Hall, Lytham Road.

Waterloo Pedestrian Plaza and Bond Street One-way Scheme An exhibition of the proposals was displayed at the New Blackpool Enterprise Centre on Lytham Road from 10th March to 14th March, 2008. Questionnaires were delivered to premises on Waterloo Road and Bond Street. Council officers visited each of these premises to collect the questionnaire following the exhibition and a contact number was also left to arrange convenient collection. A total of 185 questionnaires were delivered, 82 questionnaires were successfully collected. In addition to the above, 922 invitations to the exhibition were delivered to premises in the surrounding area, and a further 300 invitations were supplied to Councillor Lee to assist distribution.

At the exhibition, a simplified version of the questionnaire was made available to visitors; 32 of the simplified questionnaires were received from visitors to the exhibition.

Meetings were also held with representatives of the Police, Fire and Ambulance emergency services for their input into the developing design and to present the current proposals. Copies of plans were provided and formal comments were requested.

The Council wrote in March 2008 to the following associations with a plan asking for their comments in relation to the proposals Blackpool Transport Services Stagecoach Lancaster Blackpool Taxi Association Blackpool Licensed Operators Taxi Association (BLOTA) Freight Transport Association (Northern Region) Road Haulage Association (Northern Region) Navigation Technologies Ltd Fylde Coast Cycling Action Group Lancashire Cyclist Action Group Cycle Touring Club Blackpool Hotel and Guest House Association Blackpool Chamber of Trade Blackpool Trades Council

Waterloo District Centre Scheme In October 2008, a brochure was delivered to properties fronting Waterloo Road between Garden Terrace and the Promenade indicating how the scheme had been modified in response to earlier consultation exercises.

In addition to the above, there were a number of informal meetings held between elected members and local residents and businesses in order to discuss the proposals

Promenade How much did the scheme cost? The total scheme cost was £2,500,000.

Which Council Officers (Job Title and if possible Name) and Councillors approved the design and specification including any use of blocks in the road? The then Chief Executive, senior officers and members were involved in various discussions about the development and subsequent instruction to proceed.

How much have subsequent repair bills cost, what were they for and where was this funded from? The main element of repair has been to replace the 'double channel' at the edge of the vehicular running area which has led to progressive failure of areas of block-work. The channel is being replaced with a smaller and deeper sett. The cost for this been approximately £44,000 which has been met from within the above total scheme cost. A number of smaller defects have been repaired at the cost of the contractor under latent defect warranties and are due a number of factors including failure of ironwork and trench reinstatements. Who was consulted and what was their response? Consultation was independently carried out by traffic consultants with road user groups including transport operators during the development stage of the scheme and input was received from transport operators, licensed taxi representatives and the emergency services.

Westcliffe Drive How much did the scheme cost? The total scheme cost was £567,905.17

Which Council Officers (Job Title and if possible Name) and Councillors approved the design and specification including any use of blocks in the road? Who was consulted and what was their response? Consultation was undertaken at a number of stages:

Prior to commencing the design, around 2500 local businesses and residents were leafleted and asked to tell the Council how they use the area, what was important to them and what improvements were needed. This information was used to direct the development of the scheme.

At this stage, emergency services, transport operators, road safety officers and elected members were invited to a workshop to provide input and ideas into the design.

The preliminary design was presented to the Streetscene Strategy Board and elected members and input was sought from the Council's mobility and accessibility officers.

Once the detailed design had been developed, an exhibition of the proposals was staged in Layton at the local library to which local residents and shopkeepers were invited to make comment. Posters were placed in local shops to also invite shoppers and passers-by who did not live in the area.

At this stage, elected members, emergency services, transport operators and other road user associations were sent a copy of a plan and asked for their comments on the design. In parallel with this, a formal consultation was undertaken for the Traffic Regulation Orders, which would govern the area.

The Streetscene Strategy Board was involved at each stage of the design to provide input and guidance.

The elected members of the period were kept informed at all stages in the development of the scheme and gave their input and approval at each stage.

How much have subsequent repair bills cost, what were they for and where was this funded from? Six trees were replaced in 2009 at a total cost of £1,120 which was funded from the highway maintenance allocation.

Talbot Gateway I believe that you plan to use blocks in the road again around the, please confirm that this is true, whether or not the specification and material will be the same or similar to the Promenade and if not how will it be different and how much money has been put aside for subsequent repair bills and where is it to be funded from? The Central Business District proposes the use of granite setts on an area of Talbot Road. The specification for this proposal is not the same as that on the Promenade which involves significantly deeper construction. The work will be subject to a warranty from the developer and installation contractor.

Officer Qualifications In each of the above schemes, officers involved have the relevant qualifications and/or experience to deal with such matters.

Other Schemes Other schemes including the above, the tramway and many others have been subject to substantial repairs immediately following completion. For Schemes over £500,000 and in the last 5 years how many have undergone more than £10,000 repair works carried out and where were the works funded from? All included within the above answers

Finally, how many employees have been disciplined or sacked as a result of any investigation into this incompetent management of our money? None