Report for Conservative Leadership Group On: 8Th January 2001 s1

HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Agenda Item No.

CABINET MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2011 AT 2.00PM 3

HIGHWAY LOCALITY BUDGETS

Report of the Director Environment and Commercial Services

Author: Bob Hall Head of Highway Management (Tel: 01707 356586)

Executive Member: Stuart Pile, Highways and Transport

1 Purpose Of Report

1.1 To report back to Cabinet on two ‘Highway Locality Budget’ pilots undertaken in Dacorum and Broxbourne and to enable Members to consider whether to approve roll out of the Scheme across the whole county, with implementation in 2012/13.

2 Summary 2.1 The Highway Locality Budget (HLB) Scheme was introduced as part of the Herts Local programme, in the pilot areas of Broxbourne and Dacorum during 2010/11. This year the scheme has provided £90,000 of Highways Budget to each of the two County Council divisions, to be spent at the discretion of the Local County Member. The exact level of future allocations would depend upon the overall highways budgets set.

2.2 Feedback from Members engaged in the HLB Scheme has been universally positive.

2.3 Several factors, including evidence from the pilots, support an early decision on the introduction of the Scheme for the whole of the County in 2012/13.

3 Recommendations

3.1 The Highways and Transport Cabinet Panel will consider a report on this item at its meeting on 6 September 2011. The recommendation being made to the Panel is:-

“That the Panel recommends to Cabinet:-

That Cabinet:

(i) approves the Highways Locality Budget Scheme, as set out in the report, and that the Scheme be rolled out across the County with its implementation in 2012/13; and

(ii) agrees that the Director Environment and Commercial Services, in consultation with the Executive Member for Highways and Transport, finalises and issues to Members guidance on the Highways Locality Budget Scheme.” 1 3.2 The Panel’s recommendation(s) to Cabinet will be reported orally at the meeting and circulated to Members in the Order Sheet.

4 Background

4.1 The Herts Local programme was established to deliver:  An enhanced role for local County Councillors  Opportunities to empower individuals to influence decisions  Promote volunteering and the role of the voluntary sector.

4.2 Highways Locality Budgets were designed to achieve two of the key objectives by allocating resources to local County Councillors and encouraging them to make recommendations regarding spend following consultation with residents and local communities.

4.3 Highway Locality Budgets were introduced during 2010/11 in two pilot areas (Broxbourne and Dacorum), following extensive preparatory work and endorsement by Cabinet at its meeting of 21 March 2010. Subsequently, £90,000 of Highway monies were allocated to each of the 16 County Council divisions in the two areas.

4.4 The basis of the Scheme is that the budget will be allocated following advice from the Local Member who will be informed by engagement with local communities and their representatives. Officers provide support to Members on technical, policy and legal issues and on budget management.

4.5 Consultation on the proposals in the pilot areas was arranged through joint meetings with county and district members of Highway Joint Member Panels (HJMPs) and Local Strategic Partnerships. Individual County Councillors undertook additional consultation with local groups and parish and town councils (in Dacorum), although the degree to which this took place was limited due to the time available to the pilots. It was agreed in both areas that the HJMPs would be suspended for the duration of the pilots.

4.6 The Highway Locality Budget arrangements have been developed around County Councillors and their local highway officer (i.e. the Assistant District Manager (ADM)). Procedures have been implemented to balance a flexibility of approach for local circumstances with consistency in how officers operate and to help learning and development of the project.

4.7 Throughout the pilots ADMs, with support from their district managers, have assisted Members by:  Collating and maintaining lists of unfunded and outstanding works  Providing guidance on relative priorities of maintenance and improvement works  Providing guidance on technical, legal and policy matters  Providing support and guidance in responding to requests for service, although the direction of travel is the provision of information on the web and for more self help  Monitoring, managing and reporting Members’ budgets

2 5 5 Programme And Progress Of Pilots

5.1 The Introduction of the Highway Locality Budget in the Pilot areas commenced in late October 2010 to the following the timescales:

Soft Launch via joint meetings in the pilot district areas Oct-Nov Assistant District Managers (ADM) provide Members with prioritised Dec lists of options, (mainly Super Cat 2, Structural Maintenance) with estimated costs for Member consideration Members engage with communities and consider their own Dec-Jan candidates for work and those of the local community Members recommend works for structural maintenance programme Jan/Feb for approximately 80% of HLB, Phase 1 works ADM arranges design and quotation to Members for the Jan/Feb recommended works . Members confirm their recommendations for works to be delivered March ADM arranges orders works for delivery through the appropriate March/April programme Phase 1 works delivered April-Oct Options provided by ADMs for minor and routine works (Phase 2) April- Sept Members engage community to identify and agree priorities April-Sept Phase 2 (routine and minor works) agreement and delivery through April- Cat 2 programme March

5.2 In December 2010, lists of options of potential works for Members to consider were collated by ADMs and discussed with individual Members. Potential works were drawn from lists of:  unfunded works in the IWP (Integrated Works Programme) and FWP (Forward Works Programme)  identified works in the Cat 2 structural and routine programmes  outstanding requests from communities  outstanding/incomplete HJMP discretionary projects.

The works lists were given suggested priorities by ADMs in maintenance and improvement streams and guidance was provided on technical, legal and policy matters.

5.3 Members were encouraged to commit approximately 70% of their budget on structural maintenance in the first phase of works and to maintain investment in this area of work. Recommendations were necessary in January because of the lead in times for the works to be delivered in the summer months. As a result of this, and timely recommendations by those Members involved in the pilots, £1.2m of structural maintenance work is now being delivered.

5.4 The works are being delivered through existing works programmes, where possible, to retain efficient and effective delivery. For example some Members have funded micro asphalt works, delivered through the IWP programme. Some have funded patching and surfacing works, which are being delivered as part of coordinated Cat 2 countywide programmes. These works are, therefore, being carried out at a considerable saving over doing the same work through individual work orders. Analysis of the schemes funded by the pilots is at Appendix A. 3 5.5 In recent months, officers have been engaging with Members, as a second phase to consider options for spending the remaining budget, with an emphasis on routine maintenance works. Options being considered are road markings, signs, hedge and tree maintenance and other minor works. Again the intention is to deliver these works within existing programmes of work, where possible, in this case the Cat 2 Annual Framework Programme.

6 Member Feedback

6.1 Members in the pilot areas were asked to complete a questionnaire, regarding their experience of the Highway Locality Budget project. A copy of the questionnaire and analysis, and comments made by Members is at Appendix B.

6.2 Members involved in the pilot have advised that there was insufficient time to engage with their communities as effectively as they would have wished. Despite this there are some good examples of where the choice of schemes can be seen to have been influenced by residents and local communities. Several Members in the pilot areas are already considering and engaging communities on priorities for the 2012/13 budget and many Members increased engagement with their communities to inform the second phase of decisions.

7 Future Implementation Of Highway Locality Budgets

7.1 There are several reasons to consider rolling out Highway Locality Budgets on a countywide basis now:

 The optimum time for a roll out is in September/October, providing Members with time to engage communities before making choices on which works to fund whilst still providing sufficient time for works to be coordinated into efficient and effective delivery programmes during 2012/13. This is shown in the timeline shown at Appendix C

 Countywide consistent approaches are preferable from an administrative, financial, officer and contract perspective to ensure that overhead costs are minimised.

 There is an opportunity to roll out the Scheme within established Member/ officer arrangements. (Waiting one year would put the roll out into the same time as the start of new highways contractual arrangements and waiting two years would put it into the period immediately after elections, when new Members will have other issues requiring their attention).

 The new process will be established ahead of any new Members joining the Council in 2013.

7.2 These factors would suggest that now is the optimum time to roll out the Scheme across the County.

8 Member Support Arrangements

4 8.1 It will not be possible to fund all of the works desired and lists of unfunded and outstanding works are being collated for Members in the pilot areas. Officers are providing some assistance and support to enable Members to respond to requests for service or works from their constituents.

8.2 At this time of year officers in Herts Highways are starting to consider potential works for the following year and officers across the County have been sharing some of their initial lists with Members inorder to give members foresight of some of the potential works. If Cabinet decides to roll out HLBs, the majority of Members will have had early sight of potential candidates for funding when considering their local priorities.

8.3 Guidance on the how HLBs have been operated and the systems, information and arrangements available to support Members have been collated into a draft guidance document. It is proposed that, if the decision is taken to proceed with HLBs, briefings will be given to County Members at the earliest possible date through their district manager. In addition, further briefings and training will be provided as required.

9 Highway Joint Member Panels (HJMPs)

9.1 HJMPs have been a feature of how the Highway Service has been delivered for several years. With the introduction of HLBs, local constituency matters will be picked up by the local County Councillor with increased engagement with the local communities and representatives, including borough, town and parish councils.

9.2 It is proposed that a bi-annual briefing would be introduced as a successor to HJMPs to which all county and borough Members and representatives from the town and parish councils would be invited.

9.3 Initial highway liaison meetings are due to take place in Broxbourne on 5 September and in Dacorum on the 12 September. The liaison meetings will provide a model for the HJMP successor arrangements and include an update (and opportunity to discuss) borough-wide highways issues which previously would have been reported to the more restricted membership of the Highways Joint Member Panel. If it is decided to roll out Highway Locality Budgets it is proposed that the October cycle of HJMP meetings be used to initiate the process in each area. Planned HJMP meetings for March 2012 will proceed but any beyond these will then be suspended in favour of the successor arrangements.

9.4 It is proposed that this first session be chaired by Stuart Pile, County Council Executive Member for Highways & Transport who will outline future arrangements for keeping Local Members informed of the broader highways agenda, including the IWP; new and developing transport plans and strategies; an update on the highways contract re-procurement; and any other relevant local highways issues.

9.5 Alternative arrangements for some of the functions dealt with through the HJMP are also being developed and implemented in the pilot areas, the principle being that County Members will be consulted on local matters and provide advice and comment to officers in lieu of the HJMP on matters such as:

5  Consultation on the IWP – The IWP and FWP will be available to view on the web. Individual County Council Members will be provided with details on a ward by ward basis.

 Petitions - County Members will be consulted on relevant/local petitions and their views taken into account in responding to them; in accordance with the County Council’s procedures. Members may wish to consult with constituents and borough councillors and utilise their HLB to investigate or accede to requests. Detailed guidance is being developed.

 Traffic Regulation Orders - Consultation procedures for TROs and the resolution of objections are clearly laid down, and are key decisions in the County Councils Constitution, requiring transparent justification on each and every decision. County Members will be consulted when relevant by officers in exercising their delegations.

 Developer contributions (S106) – arrangements are being developed for providing county Members with relevant information.

9.6 In the non–pilot areas, HJMPs have been provided with regular briefing notes on the progress of Highway Locality Budgets. Feedback has varied. If the County Council decides to proceed in rolling out HLB countywide, it is proposed that presentations on Highway Locality Budgets and Herts Local be given to the October meetings of the HJMPs, with an invitation extended to all elected Members in the districts.

10 Publicity

10.1 To date there has not been any publicity of the HLB initiative or the decisions that Members have made within the pilot areas. Feedback from Members has suggested that they would like to be able to publish press releases for some of their schemes, particularly where there is strong public interest. If it is decided to roll out the Scheme the following approach is being proposed in respect of publicity:

 A launch release quoting the Executive Member will be issued post decision to raise awareness of the Scheme amongst the general public and encourage dialogue with their Local Member. (Late September / Early October)

 Summary information about the schemes supported by Highways Locality Budgets will be posted on individual Members’ pages on Hertsdirect. (This work is currently being progressed for the pilot areas.)

 One press release will be issued for each Member describing the works funded through their HLB once each list of schemes has been agreed. This will include a quote provided by the Local Member where this complies with the Publicity Code (Jan-March 2012).

10.2 A line will be added to Scheme communication letters, where appropriate, advising residents of forthcoming schemes, that the works are being funded from the (named) Member’s Highway Locality Budget. The same line will be added to any

6 online information about the schemes that appears on www.hertsdirect.org/roadworks.

11 Financial Implications

11.1 The Highway Locality Budget (HLB) will have both revenue and capital elements and rules governing what each type of funding can be used for. The HLB will also be ring fenced to highway related works. Officers will be responsible for ensuring compliance with legal and policy matters and for managing each Member’s budget. It is expected that, as the majority of HLB comes from maintenance budgets, that the funds will be largely directed towards maintenance.

11.2 The HLB is used for discretionary spend and can, therefore, only be determined once the overall budget has been set and the amounts for statutory and technically led programmes of work have been allocated. In the pilot areas £90,000 from Highway Budgets has been allocated for each council division. This is in addition to £10,000 Members Locality Budget and has provided Members in the pilot areas with £100,000 to use at their discretion. If HLBs are rolled out countywide at the same level, this would put £6.9million of Highway budget under Member direction. This is indicative at this stage; any level of funding provided for HLB will be determined through the normal budget processes.

11.3 Officer support is funded from the Highway revenue budget, using existing staff resource, mainly in the area offices, at no cost to Member HLBs. All other costs, such as survey, feasibility, consultation, design costs from Mouchel or the contractor, and advertising TROs are borne by Members’ HLBs.

Background Information

Reports and Minutes, Cabinet 21 March 2010 Report, Highways and Transport Cabinet Panel, 6 September 2011

7 8 Appendix A

Appendix A: Member Locality Budgets –Works and budget summary Estimated Scheme Cost (All)

Broxbourne Highways Locality Budget Scheme spend by works type

Subway works; £30,000

Signing; £12,200 Traffic measures; £1,000 Sum of Estimated Scheme Cost Safety Fencing; £14,000

Scheme Category Pedestrian scheme; £113,500 Carriageway Works Drainage works Pedestrian scheme Safety Fencing Signing Carriageway Works; £308,400 Subway works Traffic measures

Drainage works; £15,000

Dacorum Highways Locality Budget Scheme spend by works type

Traffic measures, £7,500.00 Safety Scheme, £3,402.00

Signing, £17,272.02

Pedestrian scheme, £56,430.93

Grit bins, £6,000.00

Drainage works, £23,404.77 Carriageway Works Drainage works Grit bins Pedestrian scheme Signing Traffic measures Safety Scheme

Carriageway Works, £743,507.85

9 10 Appendix B: Member Feedback and Case Studies Appendix B

CASE EXAMPLES ======

Cllr A received a request from a resident to install a barrier in the field to prevent cars driving through the field as a short cut. Although the field is managed by the Borough Council, the resident suggested that driving through the field is facilitated by recent improvements to the adjacent cycle track by the County. Cllr A raised the issue with highways and a site meeting was arranged. Cllr A subsequently decided to use his highways locality budget to fund the installation of bollards which will be installed by the Borough Council.

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Cllr B received a request from a local church to look at parking issues near the church. A meeting was held on site with the Councillor, representatives from the church, Dacorum Borough Council and HCC. Cllr B wished to use his highways locality budget to fund the extension of waiting restrictions to prevent obstructive parking by vehicles in a small section of unrestricted road. The Borough Council also agreed to look into adjusting waiting restrictions around the church although there was no funding available at the Borough Council. It was subsequently agreed that both schemes would be combined and the Highways Locality Budget would support a single cheaper scheme carried out by the Borough Council.

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Cllr C has initiated quarterly meetings with their division Parish Councils. At the first meeting in July, they were invited to send two representatives from each Parish Council; the Clerk and the Chair. The meeting lasted two hours and was well attended. The agenda for the meeting had two principle topics; Locality budgets and Highway Locality Budgets, together with items of cross Parish interest; such as 'Speed Management Strategy'. Each Parish Council had the opportunity to comment on the HLB programme, and given a further opportunity to suggest inclusions for future programmes. There are dates for further meetings in September and December.

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11 Highways Locality Budget Questionnaire Feedback and analysis

1. To what extent do you feel the Highways Locality Budget (HLB) pilot has helped, or will help you better engage with local people about highways decisions?

58% of members who responded felt that the Highways Locality Budget pilot has helped them to engage with local people about highways decisions “a lot”.

42% of members felt it helped them to engage with local people about highways decisions “a little”. No members felt that it had not helped.

2. To what extent do you think the HLB pilot has improved or will improve local people’s ability to become involved in decision-making that affects their local area?

92% of members who responded to the questionnaire thought that the HLB had empowered the public “a little” or “a lot”. Only one member felt that it had made no difference.

3. How helpful do you feel your local Hertfordshire Highways team have been in administering the process?

All the members who responded to the questionnaire felt that the Herts Highways team had been “very” or “quite” helpful in administering the process, with 83% rating the team as being “very helpful”.

4. To what extent do you feel your recommendations differed from those of the Highways team?

Overall, most members felt that their recommendations did not differ very much from those of the Highways team. However, two members commented that they felt like their recommendations differed from that of the Highways team, because they were drawn from local knowledge and residents’ views.

5. What have been the main advantages of the HLB?

All members gave examples of the advantages as a result of the HLB. For example:

"I have been able to respond to local residents. "

"It has enabled me to raise my profile in the division and has increased local satisfaction."

"I am able to react to residents’ feedback on their doorsteps"

6. What disadvantages have there been?

50% of the members that responded to the questionnaire stated that they had not experienced any disadvantages. However, some disadvantages were raised around the lack of time and money involved in the scheme.

Two key disadvantages are outlined below:

12 "People may feel that having requested an improvement, if funds are not available or another scheme is determined to have a higher priority, they will feel aggrieved and second best."

“Having to operate the pilot while at the same time learning enough of highways to do a reasonable job.”

7. Would you recommend the HLB scheme to Councillors in the other areas outside the pilot areas?

100% of members said that they would recommend the HLB scheme to Councillors in other areas outside the pilot areas.

8. What changes to the HLB would you propose?

A third of members said that they would not propose any changes to the HLB.

A number of recommendations for changes were outlined:

"Once bedded in I think a more open and ongoing dialogue should be run by the councillor"

"It would be helpful to have a more detailed note of the actual start dates of works as this will allow more effective communication with residents."

"Opportunity to explore cheaper options for design work."

"Make the public more aware that I now have this budget"

9. Any further comments.

"Herts Highways works best when it is responsive to some of the local need. This enhances that process"

“I think the principle is good, although as a lay person I feel the HLB only works with a great deal of advice and support from the Herts Highways team.”

"Hopefully this will not be so rushed next year."

13 14 Appendix C Appendix C Highway Locality Budget: Proposed timeline for 2011/12

Hertfordshire Local Highways Budgets Timeline

Sep 100% of budgets need to be allocated for 11/12 delivery Sep Herts Local liaison events for Broxbourne and Dacorum & extension of Pilots

Oct IWP programme published Dec - Jan ADMs & Members 1:1 Mar - Aug meetings to allocate around 70% of 12/13 Members to engage with the public about the allocation of Mar budget the remaining budget (normally around 30%) Commit orders for 70% of budget

Oct - Dec Members engage public Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar

Mar Mar

Jul ADMs & Members 1:1 meetings to Mar obtain Cllr feedback on the project Oct - Dec 70% of budgets need to Members engage Feb be allocated for 11/12 delivery with the public Members decision required on 70% of budgets need to Aug in the decision be allocated for 12/13 delivery Decisions published on making process new HertsDirect website

Oct October HJMPs in all 8 non-pilot districts informed of HCC decision on extension of pilots