Communities and Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee 6 January 2009

Manchester City Council Agenda Item 6 Communities and Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee 6 January 2009

MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL REPORT FOR RESOLUTION

REPORT TO COMMUNITIES & NEIGHBOURHOODS OVERVIEW SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

DATE 6 JANUARY 2009

SUBJECT WINTER SERVICES

REPORT OF THE HEAD OF ENGINEERING SERVICES

PURPOSE OF REPORT

This report outlines the existing Winter Service provision and informs of the duty of care to the public together with the current extent of the service delivery.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Members are recommended to:

1 Note the contents of the report;

APPENDICES

A Carriageway Priority Lists B Footway & Cycleway Priority Lists C Self Help Grit Bin Locations D Cost of service in 1007/08

Chris Barber Head of Engineering Services 134 4494 [email protected]

Kevin Gillham Traffic Manager - Network Management 908 5750 [email protected]

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS

The Highways Act 1980 Well-Maintained Highway Code of Practice 1005 Winter Services Operational Plan

8 Manchester City Council Agenda Item 6 Communities and Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee 6 January 2009

1.0 Introduction

1.1 The Winter Service is provided by Highway Services and is planned to ensure that adequate resources are available at all times during the winter period to respond to adverse weather conditions. The efficient and effective delivery of the service is essential in terms of economy and road safety, providing for the safe movement of all users of the highway, including pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, public transport operators and other vehicle drivers.

1.2 Manchester is not usually affected for long periods of extreme weather conditions and consequently, resources are provided to deal with conditions that might normally be expected. In the event of prolonged periods of severe weather, contingency arrangements are put in place to ensure that sufficient resources are available to maintain the highway network in a safe condition.

2. 0 Legislation

2.1 Highway Authorities in England and Wales have a statutory duty under Section 150 of the Highways Act 1980 to remove snow from the highway where it causes an obstruction from accumulation or from the falling down of banks on the side of the highway, or from any other cause. Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 places a duty on Highway Authorities to maintain public highways at public expense.

2.2 From 31 October 1003 Section 41 was amended to include:-

(1A) "In particular, a highway authority is under a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable , that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice"

The duty however, is not simply to clear snow and ice. The wording of the amendment puts a duty on the authority to ensure safe passage is not endangered by snow or ice and therefore preventative gritting falls within this new duty.

2.3 The key strategic policy document, which gives direction to the City’s transportation and highway activity, is the Local Transport Plan (LTP). The plan, which all authorities have a statutory duty to produce, was prepared jointly by the City along with the other nine Greater Manchester districts and the Passenger Transport Authority.

9 Manchester City Council Agenda Item 6 Communities and Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee 6 January 2009

2.4 An effective Transport network is clearly critical to the City's social, economic and environmental well-being. The policies set out in the LTP embrace the principles contained within the hierarchy of road users, which gives priority to more vulnerable road users and public transport and to those living in and using an area. The LTP is therefore seen as a primary document with the key policies influencing the way in which the Winter Services Operational Plan is produced and implemented. The documents; 'Well-maintained Highways ~ Code of Practice for Maintenance Management', and the Institute of Civil Engineers, 'Design and Practice Guides ~ Highway Winter Maintenance' provide guidance in delivering winter services have been adopted in producing the Winter Service Operational Plan.

2.5 All carriageways and footways have been assessed against objective criteria recommended in the Code of Practice for Maintenance and Management to produce a network hierarchy that supports the overall strategy for highway network management and integrated transport. The network hierarchy is reviewed annually against the criteria and amended where necessary. To achieve compliance with service standards, the performance in delivering winter services will be monitored throughout the winter period with due regard being given to the Council's obligations for health, safety and welfare of its employees and others.

3. 0 Management

3.1 Winter Services is managed by Highway Services, Network Management Team with the day to day activities being controlled by a Duty Manager, supported by Duty Officials who are available at all times throughout the winter period to implement and monitor the operation during adverse weather conditions.

3.2 A standby arrangement is used to ensure that the responsibilities are shared fairly and so a continuity of service is available at all times. The duty manager has overall responsibility for the decisions made during his standby period, but it is the duty officer that ensures that any actions to be provided by service partners are carried out in accordance with the Winter Service Operational Handbook.

4. 0 Monitoring Weather Conditions

4.1 Information provided by the Met. Office enables the Duty Manager to make informed decisions about any actions that may be required to prevent the formation of ice on the highway. Data produced in graphical format and updated every hour, shows the observed weather plus that forecast for the next twenty-four hour period. In addition officers have direct access to the weather forecasters via a dedicated phone number to discuss in greater depth any aspect of the forecast weather to enable judgements to be made based on the most accurate and up to date data available.

10 Manchester City Council Agenda Item 6 Communities and Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee 6 January 2009

5. 0 Service Partners

5.1 Since 1998 the treatment of the highway network has been undertaken by Carillion (formerly Alfred McAlpine) who are available on a call out basis twenty-four hours a day throughout the winter period. Due to the type of the equipment needed to be employed, Carillion’s activities are confined to the carriageway, and a separate arrangement is therefore needed for the treatment of footways, footpaths and other pedestrian areas.

5.2 Street Scene Services provide this area of service delivery, which amongst other footway gritting equipment include the use of three motorised footway gritting machines (huskies). These machines are much smaller than the carriageway gritting machines and ideal for use on footways, which would otherwise be very difficult and time consuming to treat.

6. 0 Service Delivery

6.1 Although winter services are normally planned to be delivered between 1 November and 31 March each year, there are occasions when gritting is necessary outside this period. The Client and the contractor recognise the need for a response on these occasions and there is a commitment to ensure that resources are available when needed.

6.2 Over the last three years weather conditions have meant that treatment of the highway has had to be carried out both before the normal starts and ends of the service period. Therefore for this year the season has been extended by two weeks to cover the period from 11 October 1008 to 10 April 1009.

7. 0 Salt Management

7.1 The effective treatment (gritting) of roads requires that salt is spread on the highway in sufficient quantity to counteract the forecast conditions. The salt is stockpiled at Hooper Street depot and is drawn down as the need arises. The amount of salt held on stock is monitored and depending upon the severity of the weather conditions, the salt is replenished such that draw down does not reach critical levels.

7.2 To properly control the amount of salt held a stock management system is used. The system, managed by the supplier, ‘Salt Union’, ensures that there is adequate stock available at all times and is based on minimum and maximum levels agreed with the council. An added bonus to the use of this system is that only the amount needed is supplied and means that we do not pay for salt that is not needed.

11 Manchester City Council Agenda Item 6 Communities and Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee 6 January 2009

8. 0 Treatment Priority

8.1 Winter Service is not an emergency service in the traditional sense in that low temperatures, ice and snow are regular, frequent and reasonably predictable occurrences. As such the delivery of this service is subject to the same planning regimes used for the provision of other services. There are three main objectives in providing the Winter Service and they are:

• The statutory obligation to main a safe highway network for its users by the prevention of the forming of ice and removal of lying snow. • Maintaining the availability of the highway network for its users again by the prevention of ice forming and the removal of snow, although in Manchester this will be less of a problem than for neighbouring authorities. • The long-term maintenance of the fabric of the highway through an effective Winter Service to eliminate the freeze/thaw effect on carriageways, which would occur on untreated roads.

9. 0 Carriageway Priority

9.1 Manchester’s highway network consists of approximately 680Km. of carriageway plus approximately 1,110km. of footway and comprises strategic routes, main & secondary distributor routes, link roads and local access roads. Of these, approximately 140Km. of carriageway and approximately 40Km. of footway are treated and this equates to 10% and 3% of the network respectively.

9.2 To be able to deliver a high quality service that meets the needs of the service, given the financial implications and the scale of other resources needed, it would not be practical to provide the Winter Service to all parts of the network or to ensure that the highway surfaces are kept free of ice and snow at all times. Therefore to comply with the current legislation risk assessments to establish which roads should be included in a priority programme, have been undertaken.

9.3 In the case of the Winter Service, the risk has been identified as being consistent with that determined by the operational highway network priority listing established some years ago. This takes into consideration the importance of the road as a transport link. The listing is broken down into category one and two roads, category one being strategic routes and category two being main & secondary feeder together with some link and local access roads. The priority list is shown in Appendix A.

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10. 0 Footway Priority

Since 1003 there has been a greater responsibility for local authorities to provide a safe passage for users of the highway and this includes footways as well as carriageways. Again the responsibility is not absolute and individuals are duty bound to take reasonable precautions during adverse weather conditions. However, to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the safe passage along a footway is not endangered by snow or ice, risk assessments have been undertaken and a footway priority programme produced.

10.1 Using the same rationale as above the priority programme includes those footways on principal routes that are subjected to heavy footfall plus footways fronting large schools and local shopping areas. Again the listing is broken down into category one and two roads, with category one being prestige and primary footways and category two being secondary footways. The priority listing is shown in Appendix B.

11. 0 Cycleway Priority

11.1 Cycleways are included in the carriageway and footway priority programme. This means that where a cycleway is part of a carriageway or footway that is included in the priority programme it will be treated accordingly. Cycleways that are remote from the highway or are part of a carriageway or footway that is not within the priority programme are not treated. The priority listing is shown in Appendix B.

12. 0 Self Help

12.1 Self-help salt bins are provided at strategic locations throughout the City and positioned so as not to cause an obstruction to pedestrians. The locations selected for the siting of grit bins are where carriageways or footways/cycle-ways are not on the priority routes and include the following, footbridges, subways, steps, roads/footpaths with a gradient of more than 1:10, entrances to public facilities etc.

12.2 All salt bins are checked and refilled during the winter period. Where requested, grit bins will be provided for use at locations other than the public highway, these include schools, aged persons' homes, day centres etc. In these cases the cost of the salt bin is charged to the applicant together with its periodical refilling. The list of grit bin locations on the highway is shown in Appendix C.

13 Manchester City Council Agenda Item 6 Communities and Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee 6 January 2009

13. 0 The Cost of Providing the Winter Service

13.1 The service provided is not only based on the duty to deliver a safe network to the public during times of adverse weather conditions, but also the affordability to deliver the service to an acceptable standard. To maintain standards, training for new officers to the service area and annual refresher training for others is therefore an essential element of a successful service delivery.

13.2 The weather forecasting service is currently provided by the ‘Met. Office’ through a Greater Manchester wide contract that is currently in the fourth of its five year period. The ‘Met. Office’ provides a twenty-four hours per day service, which includes hourly graphical updates as wall as written twenty-four hour, and two to five day weather predictions. This information enables decisions to be made with regard to any actions to be taken to ensure that safe passage is not endangered by snow or ice within the priority programme.

13.3 To further increase the confidence in the forecasts a weather station was installed on Rochdale Road, Harpurhey some years ago. The weather station provides more detailed information about road surface temperature, road depth temperature, air temperature and prevailing weather conditions, which when complimented by the regional forecast provides a better indication of the expected outcomes of a twelve to twenty-four hour period. The service, including the maintenance of the weather station, is provided by ‘Viasala’, again on a five-year contract, which is currently in its second year.

13.4 The cost of providing the Winter Service in 1007/08 can be broken down into a number of elements:

• External Contractor • Internal Contractor • Plant • Materials • Training • Income

13.5 Appendix D provides the breakdown of these costs. The overall cost of the Winter Service for 1007/08 was in the order of £409K, which realised a saving of approximately £77k, but it should be noted that the overall weather conditions were relatively mild and a winter bringing more extremes of weather would very quickly erode any anticipated savings

14. 0 Recommendations

14.1 It is recommended that the contents of this report are noted.

14 Manchester City Council Agenda Item 6 Communities and Neighbourhoods Overview and Scrutiny Committee 6 January 2009