LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL HIGHWAY FORUM FOR MELTON THURSDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2015 AT 4.30 PM TO BE HELD AT COUNCIL CHAMBER 2 - PARKSIDE, MELTON BC OFFICES AGENDA Item 1. Chairman's welcome 2. Apologies for absence 3. Any other items which the Chairman has decided to take as urgent elsewhere on the agenda 4. Declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda 5. Minutes of the previous meeting (Pages 3-8) 6. Chairman's update - change in the law dealing with ragwort (Pages 9-10) and invasive weeds 7. Presentation of petitions under Standing Order 36. 8. Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA) update (Pages 11-14) 9. Enforcement Policy (Pages 15-20) 10. Changes to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General (Pages 21-26) Directions 11. Future provision of street lighting (Pages 27-28) 12. Forthcoming traffic regulation order consolidation (Pages 29-32) Officer to Contact: Sue Dann, Democratic Support ◦ Department of Environment and Transport ◦ Leicestershire County Council ◦ County Hall Glenfield ◦ Leicestershire ◦ LE3 8RJ ◦ Tel: 0116 305 7122 ◦ Email: [email protected] www.twitter.com/leicsdemocracy www.facebook.com/leicsdemocracy www.leics.gov.uk/local_democracy 13. HGVs using unsuitable roads (Pages 33-36) 14. 2014/15 maintenance and improvement programmes - (Pages 37-52) information item 15. Programme of traffic management work - current position - (Pages 53-58) information item 16. On-going action statement - nothing to report 17. Items for consideration for future discussion will Members please submit these in writing to the officers prior to the meeting 18. Any other items the Chairman has decided is urgent 19. Date of the next meeting - Wednesday 15th July 2015 - 4.30pm (room tbc) 20. Chairman's closing remarks 3 Agenda Item 5 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE LEICESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL HIGHWAYS FORUM FOR MELTON HELD AT THE MELTON BOROUGH COUNCIL OFFICES ON TUESDAY 28TH OCTBER 2014 AT 6.00PM PRESENT County Councillors Borough Councillors Cllr J T Orson (Chairman substitute for Cllr P M Chandler Cllr P Posnett) Cllr A Pearson Cllr J Wyatt Cllr J B Rhodes The following also attended the meeting: County officers present: P Crossland, G Payne, D R Bradbury Borough officer present: L Fleming 072. CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME The Chairman welcomed Members and officers to the meeting. 073. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs P Posnett CC and E Holmes BC. 074. URGENT ITEMS There were no urgent items. 075. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. 076. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 22 nd July 2014 were confirmed and signed as a true record of the meeting. 077. CHAIRMAN’S UPDATE The Chairman asked Members if they had any issues with items in the minutes. Cllr P Chandler BC confirmed that a meeting had taken place with a representative from AOne+ which was the Highways Agency’s ‘managing agent contractor’. The representative was astonished to see the state of the grass around the A52. Last Thursday, several gangs arrived on site and did an excellent job. Cllr Chandler was concerned that there was confusion over who was responsible for the grass-cutting contract and the lack of response from the Highways Agency. Mr Crossland suggested that an email from Mike Sheldrake to AOne+, setting out the work agreed at the meeting, be attached to the minutes. - 1 - 4 Cllr J B Rhodes CC suggested that the three local Members for Parliament should be informed of the dissatisfaction of Members to the response on issues highlighted in the A52 - Nick Boles - Alan Duncan - Ken Clarke Mr Crossland suggested that a letter be sent out on behalf of the Chairman of the Forum to the three MPs expressing concerns. The Chairman also asked that Mr Sheldrake continue his correspondence with AOne+. 078. PRESENTATION OF PETITIONS UNDER STANDING ORDER 36 There were no current petitions. 079. WINTER MAINTENANCE The Forum considered a report by the Director of Environment and Transport on winter maintenance. Mr Payne introduced the report with a copy filed with the minutes. Mr Payne took Members through the report commenting on the mild winter in terms of snow and frost in 2013/14. It was, however, a very wet winter. In comparison to the previous year, only 7,700 tonnes of salt were used. Mr Payne went on to explain the tasks that had been undertaken in readiness for the winter. The County Council had over 17,000 tonnes of salt stockpiled in five salt barns around the county. The Chairman commented that the County Council had a good name for its winter maintenance service. He asked that the minutes reflect the Forum’s gratitude to the winter workforce who work through the night to ensure that the county’s road network is kept open. RECOMMENDATION That the report of the Director of Environment and Transport be noted. 080. GULLY EMPTYING OPERATION The Forum considered a report by the Director of Environment and Transport on the gully emptying operation. Mr Payne introduced the report with a copy filed with the minutes. Mr Payne explained that, in 2012, the county had experienced a summer that saw exceptional rainfall. This had produced a problem with the gully emptying process. The County Council received 1,800 requests for gully emptying which suggested that a cleansing problem existed. This prompted an increase in gully emptying vehicles from 4 to 6. By hitting the backlog of gullies, the County Council also looked at the performance of the process. As part of the Customer Services Centre/Highways Review, the gully emptying service was assessed and found to be slower than it should have been, taking an average 55 days to react to customer enquiries. After the Review, processes have been changed which resulted in average time reacting to customer enquiries decreasing to 5.5 days, an 89% reduction in response time. The Chairman commented that the report was a good news story. Mr Payne explained to Members that a gully was a road drain with a grid over it. - 2 - 5 The Chairman asked that the report be sent to the parish councils in the Melton district. RECOMMENDATIONS i) That the report of the Director of Environment and Transport be noted; and ii) that copies of the report be sent to the parish councils in the Melton district 081. WEED SPRAYING The Forum considered a report by the Director of Environment and Transport on weed spraying. Mr Payne introduced the report with a copy filed with the minutes. Mr Payne updated Members on the process undertaken in the county to combat weeds. Weeds in the road channels and footways are sprayed twice a year. The timing of the process is dependent upon the weather. Mr Payne stated that, within the highway, the County Council is only permitted to use glyphosate. However, it is anticipated that changes in EU directives may further restrict the use of glyphosate in the future. Finally, Mr Payne explained how the County Council deals with dangerous and invasive weeds such as giant hogweed, Japanese knotweed, spear thistle, and ragwort. Cllr J Wyatt BC stated that in his patch there were more weeds than in previous years. He was not convinced that they had been sprayed. Mr Payne agreed to speak to Cllr Wyatt and take details of the problem areas outside the meeting. The Chairman asked Cllr Chandler to let Mr Sheldrake know of problem areas of ragwort on the A52. Cllr Wyatt stated that he believed that there had been a recent change in the law on how to deal with ragwort and other invasive weeds. The Chairman asked that an update come to the next meeting. RECOMMENDATIONS i) That the report of the Director of Environment and Transport be noted; and ii) that an update be provided at the next meeting on any change in law in dealing with ragwort and other invasive weeds 082. OVERHANGING VEGETATION ON THE HIGHWAY The Forum considered a report by the Director of Environment and Transport on overhanging vegetation on the highway. Mr Payne introduced the report with a copy filed with the minutes. Mr Payne explained that the report provides Members with details on how the County Council deals with the problem. Officers try to resolve any problems informally wherever possible. Where an informal approach is unsuccessful, a letter will be issued requiring the work to be undertaken. If this fails then legal action will be undertaken. Mr Crossland confirmed that a report would be going to the Environment and Scrutiny Overview Committee on various enforcement activities and their policies and powers. The Chairman asked that a report come to a future meeting explaining the - 3 - 6 enforcement powers. Cllr Rhodes stated that this was a difficult topic. He suggested that it would be good practice to consult the local Member on whether stronger powers are used. Cllr A Pearson CC was concerned that going through the legal process is costly and time-consuming. He suggested that if any vegetation is considered dangerous then the County Council should cut it and charge the landowner. Mr Crossland explained that one view he had was that the parish council, on behalf of the Director of Environment and Transport, could issue the initial letter. If nothing happened then the parish council could contact the County Council in order to move onto the legal process. RECOMMENDATIONS i) That the report of the Director of Environment and Transport be noted; and ii) that a report come to a future meeting on enforcement policies and powers 083. DROPPED KERB PROCESS The Forum considered a report by the Director of Environment and Transport on the dropped kerb process.