COPELAND HIGHWAYS WORKING GROUP Minutes of a Meeting of the Copeland Highways Working Group held on Friday, 8 April 2016 in the Melbreak Room, Lillyhall, Workington at 10.00 am PRESENT: Mr FI Morgan (Chairman) Mr N Clarkson Ms E Weir Mr M Hawkins Ms C Wharrier Mr K Hitchen Mr H Wormstrup Mrs GR Troughton Also in Attendance:- Mr K Cosgrove - Traffic Management Team Leader Mrs J Currie - Senior Democratic Services Officer Mr C McCarron - Senior Highways Network Technician Mr K Melville - Senior Manager, Network Management: West Miss A Sykes - Highways Network Manager 30 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE There were no apologies for absence on this occasion. The Chair reported that since the last meeting of the Working Group the officer who had supported Copeland Highways Working Group had left the County Council. Members asked that their thanks be recorded to Joan Cowan, for all her hard work on behalf of Copeland Highways Working Group. 31 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 February 2016 were agreed with the following amendment:- - add Ms E Weir to the list of attendees present. 32 CAPITAL SCHEMES 2016/17 The Network Manager tabled a copy of the Capital Schemes 2016/17 which highlighted for members the entries of interest to Copeland Local Committee. She asked members to note:- Integrated Transport Block (ITB) This block included improvement programmes for pedestrians, cyclists, public transport passengers and road users. Although there were no schemes planned for engineering safety studies and implementation measures in Copeland this time there was one major scheme under the ‘Major County Schemes’ block. Funding from this block was used to support the District Councils in the preparation, design and delivery of Infrastructure Deficit Plans (IDPs). The scheme in Copeland was an approved request to reprofile £89,000 to deliver the Seascale to Gosforth Cycleway in 2016/17. The cost of the scheme would be approximately £184,000, which included £95,000 already allocated from Copeland Local Committee funds. In relation to element 4 of the ITB – Countryside Access Improvement Schemes there were 3 schemes within Copeland:- Drigg – for surface works and drainage Distington – for a diversion and surfacing of a footpath St Bees – for improvements to the footpath surface Principal Road Network (PRN) In the PRN Block there were a number of schemes in Copeland programmed for surface treatments, structural maintenance and drainage, including:- A5094 Carriageway at Inkerman Terrace, Whitehaven – Surfacing with 100mm HRA Inlay £140,800 A5094 Footways at Inkerman Terrace, Whitehaven Footway Resurfacing £70,000 A5094 Strand Street/ Tangier Street Whitehaven – Surfacing with 100mm HRA inlay £59,400 A595 Route Management: Gosforth to Silecroft Investigation and repair works £15,000 A5086 Route Management: Frizington to Lamplugh – Investigation and repair works £23,000 A5093 Route Management: Silecroft; Millom; and The Green - Investigation and repair works £15,000 A595 Calderbridge to Ponsonby Phase 1 Works - Install new carrier drain to alleviate flood risk to adjacent property £140,000 A5093 Route Management: Silecroft to Hallthwaites Improvements – targeting road markings and signage improvements £15,000 A5086 Route Management: Egremont to Mockerkin - Improvements - targeting road markings and signage improvements £10,000 A595 Valley end to Gateside, Whicham – Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £77,000 A595 Gosforth Cross Roads to Seven Acres Caravan Park – Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £44,000 A595 Boonwood to School Brow Gosforth Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £27,500 A595 Brown Cow to Shoemire Wood Wabberthwaite Small Scale Patching pre SD patching£20,000 A595 Mill Street to Holegill Bootle Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £40,000 A5093 Valley End Silecroft to Hellpool - Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £50,000 A5093 Bankfield to Langthwaite Farm- Small Scale Patching pre SD patching £25,000 2 Members asked about the scheme for Strand Street and whether this would be a ‘streetscape’ scheme. Officers confirmed that this scheme was only for repairs to the carriageway and would not include any work on the footways. Officer updated members on the plans for the schemes at Inkerman Terrace. The footway works would take approximately 4-5 weeks to complete and the carriageway would be about 6-7 days to complete. The majority of the work would be done via the one way system but may involve closure of the road during the night. Local members would be kept informed on progress with this. Members thanked the Network Manager for the tabled document, which they would be able to keep as a valuable reference tool. 33 GULLY CLEANSING/VERGE MAINTENANCE UPDATE 33 (a) Gully Cleansing The Network Manager presented a briefing note which gave members an update on gully cleansing operations in the Copeland area. In November 2015 Cabinet agreed to bring back in-house the gully cleansing operations as of 1 April 2016. As a result the gully cleansing contract with current contractor ended on 31 March 2016. Although despite the impact of the floods, the vast majority of routine cleans were done, however as of 31 March the following areas remained unfinished:- Moresby Parks – 98% complete Kells – 95% complete Haverigg - 90% completed Woodhouse Green Bank – 75% complete Keekle – 70% complete The following schemes were still to commence:- Whitehaven Town Centre Arco Drains Millom A Road Calderbridge to Duddon Bridge By Muncaster Castle and South of Bootle Egremont to Mockerkin For Copeland a new gully cleansing wagon had been hired-in while the long term gully wagon was being procured. Gully wagons for purchase could rarely be bought ‘off the shelf’ as they were made to order as each potential customer had unique specification requirements. The Supervisor was liaising with the Highways Network Team on developing a gully cleansing programme for 2016. In the first instance this would mostly be based on previous gully cleansing programmes. However, officers now had the ability to 3 tweak and amend the programme to meet the needs of the Copeland area and budgets available. 33 (b) Verge Maintenance The Network Manager presented a briefing note which gave members an update on verge maintenance operations in the Copeland area. The tender process had now been undertaken and tenders received countywide from various suppliers. These had been assessed by the council’s procurement team based on both price and quality and a recommended supplier for each contract agreed. The contract was yet to be awarded as it required Corporate Director approval. It was unlikely that the contract would be awarded until early May 2016. Once appointed officers would work with the contractor to establish a programme and enable verge maintenance works to start as soon as possible on the network. As in previous years Copeland Borough Council would be undertaking grass cutting and weed spraying operations within 40mph zones throughout Copeland. The County Council would be contributing towards the cost of two cuts and the borough council then had the discretion to do additional cuts for amenity reasons, but these would be funded from borough council budgets. The Area Highways and Transport Manager asked members to note that in future the County Council would be discouraging Parish Council volunteers from carrying out their own grass cutting, unless they were able to comply with the Council’s safety standards. Members felt it would be beneficial to issue a press release to let parishes know there had been a change in policy and the Area Highways and Transport Manager confirmed he had been in touch with CALC to ensure this was done at the start of the grass cutting ‘season’. Members supported this approach. 34 WORKING WITH THE NFU The Network Manager presented a briefing note which gave members an update on a meeting that had recently taken place between County Council Highways officers and the National Farmers Union (NFU). At the meeting discussions took place about issues that Officers face on a day to day basis relating to highways problems caused by farmers & landowners, including:- Drainage/flooding problems from farmer’s land Mud/silage on the highway Maintenance of ditches and hedges. 4 The importance of working with farmers and landowners to come to a practical resolution to issues was discussed. Officers made it clear that NFU members had roles and responsibilities in maintaining standards relating to highways safety issues caused directly by their operations both on and off the Highway. These roles and responsibilities were set out the County Council publication entitled ‘Farming and the Public Highway’. Mrs Richards had agreed to ensure these concerns were included in the next issue of the NFU newsletter to highlight to its members the issues raised and would also send out the publication to all members of the NFU, for information. It was hoped that this would prove a positive move and get the message across to farmers. The information would also include up to date contact details for Cumbria Highways staff, as this was raised as a concern from the NFU. The feedback from the meeting had been shared with colleagues in Allerdale. Members felt that it would be useful to share the protocol ‘Farming and the Public Highway’ with parish councils, who may find it useful to upload to their website. They also asked for a copy to be sent to all Copeland members, for information (Action: AS) 35 ROAD SAFETY TRAFFIC ISSUES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN COPELAND The Traffic Management Team Leader gave members an update on the following road safety/traffic issues and improvements in Copeland:- B5295 Cleator Moor RTC and Safety Improvements There had been a number of collisions on this road and combined with the historic issues at Mill Hill there was a need to investigate the feasibility of introducing minor traffic engineering improvements.