Winter Maintenance Policy
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CARDIFF COUNCIL CYNGOR CAERDYDD EXECUTIVE BUSINESS MEETING: 6 OCTOBER 2011 WINTER MAINTENANCE POLICY REPORT OF CHIEF OFFICER (CITY SERVICES) AGENDA ITEM: 10 PORTFOLIO: TRAFFIC & TRANSPORTATION Reason for this Report 1. To provide a further progress report on the implementation of the Winter Maintenance Action Plan (“Action Plan”) and approve the updated Winter Maintenance Policy and Winter Maintenance Implementation Plan. Background 2. In December 2010 Cardiff experienced its worst snow fall since 1983, and the coldest December temperatures for over 100 years. The snow caused extensive disruption to transport and services across the City and, following concerns raised regarding the Councils resilience to such events, the Chief Executive commissioned an independent expert to undertake a review of the Council’s winter maintenance performance in the lead up to, during and immediately after the December 2010 snow event. 3. The review was conducted during January 2011 and the resulting report was considered by the Executive and by the Environmental Scrutiny Committee in February 2011. The Environmental Scrutiny Committee considered the draft action plan and welcomed it as a positive step forward in preparing Cardiff and improving the Councils resilience for future snow events. 4. The Action Plan, approved by the Executive on 10 March 2011, identified that many of the actions would be completed and approved by the Executive by 31 August 2011. A progress report on the Action Plan, together with the revised draft Winter Maintenance Policy and Winter Maintenance Action Plan were considered by the Executive on 14 July 2011 and it was agreed that the revised Winter Maintenance Implementation Plan be issued to all key stakeholders and specifically major employers and representative bodies of Traders in Cardiff, farmers, Emergency Services, Cardiff Bus and Arriva Trains for comment, and to receive for approval at its meeting in October 2011 a Page 1 of 9 final version of the Winter Maintenance Implementation Plan in preparation for the 2011-12 winter maintenance season. Issues 5. The Approved Action Plan identified the need to undertake work specifically in respect of: • The ‘immediate’ actions identified; • Reviewing the Winter Maintenance Policy in conjunction with key stakeholders; • Resilience Planning for extreme weather – engagement with the community & voluntary sectors; • The development of Gold Command arrangements; • Recovery planning in respect of the use of both in-house and external resources; • The installation of GPS technology on the Council’s gritting vehicles, and • Communication – both before the winter season and also during any snow or severe weather events. 6. All actions identified for implementation prior to the commencement of the winter season 2011/12 have now been completed. There are some actions that will need to be implemented should a snow event occur during the forthcoming winter, for example, timely communications. However, the necessary preparatory work in respect of such actions has been undertaken so that they can be effectively implemented if and as necessary. A detailed report on the implementation of the Action Plan is enclosed in Appendix 1. A summary of the main areas of work completed following the Executive Business Meeting on 14 July 2011 is reported in the subsections below. Environmental Scrutiny Committee 7. As reported in paragraph 3, prior to the Executive approving the Action Plan, the Environmental Scrutiny Committee considered the draft action plan and welcomed it as a positive step forward in preparing Cardiff and improving the Councils resilience for future snow events. On 19 July 2100, the Environmental Scrutiny Committee reviewed the documentation approved by the Executive on 14 July and reported that “…the Council had done an excellent job in developing the Winter Maintenance Policy since February 2011. ” The Committee also felt that a caveat should be added in respect of the ‘Recovery Plan’, which had been developed as identified by the Action Plan, to “…avoid the Council being held a ‘hostage to fortune’ during such future events .” The Recovery Plan is discussed in more detail later in this report. A copy of the letter dated 3 August 2011 from the Chair of the Environmental Scrutiny Committee is enclosed in Appendix 2 together with the response from the Executive Member. Page 2 of 9 Independent Review of Revised Winter Maintenance Documentation and Action Plan 8. As stated in paragraph 2, the Chief Executive previously commissioned an independent expert to undertake a review of the Council’s winter maintenance performance in the lead up to, during and immediately after the December 2010 snow event. The recommendations from this review were incorporated into the Action Plan later approved by the Executive on 10 March 2011. Following the Executive Meeting on 14 July 2011, the person who undertook this review, Mr Brian Smith, was requested by the City Services Chief Officer to review the updated Winter Maintenance documentation and Action Plan and to provide a report to summarise his independent view on Cardiff’s current state of winter resilience compared to the 2010/11 period. 9. Brian Smith’s report is attached at Appendix 3. The report confirms that “A lot of work has been undertaken over the last six months, and this is reflected in the progress made with the Action Plan.” A number of recommendations are made, particularly in respect of: further modifications to the Winter Maintenance Policy and Winter Maintenance Implementation Plan; redrafting the Recovery Plan, replacing the detailed matrices with a narrative; progressing the preparation of outline plans for the deployment of resources during a snow event, and further consideration of the communications processes/procedures to be adopted during a snow event. 10. The report concludes: “The work of the last six months has put the Council and the Cardiff area in a much stronger position to deal with a snow event such as experienced last winter, and indeed, any other similar event, such as flooding or high winds. However, the task of preparation and maintaining readiness is never complete. There is always an element of work-in-progress and this is particularly the case at the present time, as actions are followed through and the necessary work to ensure all the activity is joined up and co- ordinated is put in place. There is also the need to test procedures and arrangements, recognising there is a limit to rehearsal without the realism of snow. It is especially important to register that because snow events tend not to be frequent in Cardiff, there is a challenge in keeping people up-to-date, through the inevitable turnover of staff. Strong community engagement and support to complement the Council’s efforts is a vital part of the Action Plan. Maintaining this over a period of time is always never easy and especially so when snow events are not frequent, and so this needs to be an ongoing element of the resilience work. Page 3 of 9 This all leads to my overall judgement: Cardiff’s resilience to deal with a future snow event has been substantially enhanced since the winter of 2010/11, but the work and training will need to continue. A vital element of this work will be with the wider community, which has a key role to play in the overall resilience of the area.” Issue of Winter Maintenance Implementation Plan to Key Stakeholders 11. On 14 July 2011, the Executive approved that the draft revised Winter Maintenance Implementation Plan be issued to all key stakeholders and specifically major employers and representative bodies of Traders in Cardiff, farmers, as well as the Emergency Services, Cardiff Bus and Arriva Trains for comment. Comments were also invited from the Community Council’s, Members, and Chief Officers. As of 5 September 2011, a total of 22 responses from Members and external stakeholders had been received. A summary of the responses together with the corresponding intended actions is enclosed in Appendix 4. Snow Kits for Schools 12. As stated in the report approved by the Executive on 14 July 2011, the design and ‘costing’ of a ‘snow kit’ for schools has been devised. This ‘kit’ comprises two grit bins, and a pedestrian gritting machine at a total cost of approximately £1600, options are also available for the delivery of salt ahead of the season. The City Services Chief Officer arranged for this information to be provided to the Schools Head Teachers and requested that they confirm purchase requests for the snow kit by 22 July 2011 to allow these to be ordered in good time before the winter period. As of 5 September 2011, only 9 requests for the whole of part of the ‘snow kit’ had been received. Therefore, the Chief Officer arranged for a ‘reminder’ to be sent to the Head Teachers regarding this opportunity and to work closely with schools liaison officers to encourage further resilience in schools. 13. In addition to action plan response, the ‘Snow Kit was also offered for sale to Community Councils, Community Groups, and organisations including the emergency services (e.g. fire stations, doctors’ surgeries) residential homes and to all Council buildings. This was on the basis that the kits would be paid for by the organisations and the Council will procure and deliver to the customer to offer best value and to assist with increasing overall resilience and increasing the ability of communities to self help with high risk areas and vulnerable people. At the time of preparing this report, no requests for the whole of part of the ‘snow kit’ had been received from these stakeholders. Updating Winter Maintenance Policy and Winter Maintenance Implementation Plan 14. A key item identified in the Action Plan was the undertaking of a review of the Council’s Winter Maintenance Policy. Updated draft versions of both the Winter Maintenance Policy, which forms part of the Council’s Highway Policy, and the Winter Maintenance Implementation Plan, which Page 4 of 9 provides details of the Councils winter maintenance operations, were appended to the report considered by the Executive on 14 July 2011.