Agenda and minutes

(Report by Director, Kent Highway Services)

The Chairman informed Members that KCC’s and CELCON’s lawyers were negotiating the final details of an agreement that would allow CELCON and KCC to withdraw the costs applications they had made against each other.  The urgent decision taken by the Leader on 9 November 2007 had provided KCC’s lawyers with authority to negotiate with CELCON and to enter into this agreement.  It was expected that the negotiations would conclude very shortly.

As a result, the report circulated with the agenda would not be taken.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 18 September 2007 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

(Report by Director, Kent Highway Services)

Mr J R Bullock declared a personal interest in this Item as Chairman of the Lamberhurst British Legion.

(1)       This was the first formal Director’s Update report and it was proposed to provide one to each Highways Advisory Board from now on.

Governance and Decision making in Kent Highway Services

(2)       The Director was aware that whereas ultimate Governance decisions were made at Cabinet, Highways Advisory Board enabled Board Members and officers to exchange views and formulate recommendations that passed to the portfolio holder via the minutes and the Board Chairman.  The new Alliance structure of KHS enabled a broad range of disciplines to be presented to HAB covering from consultation and planning to delivery.  The Alliance team was also available to attend JTB meetings.

Joint Transportation Boards –KHS believed that Joint Transportation Boards enabled local issues to be debated with officers at a local level and amongst others things help identify, prioritise and endorse schemes that were either capital investment in changes/improvements to the network and validated by PIPKIN or maintenance of the existing asset as identified by the asset management model.  There was more work to be done to shape the interaction with JTB’s as the changes to KHS and the wider E&R directorate took shape.  A PIPKIN conference was being planned for the New Year to discuss with Members and Parish/Town Councils their role in representing the community voice for any ideas to improve/change the road layout or transport provision for the county.

Alliance Board – when the new highway contracts were let to Ringway, Jacobs and TSUK all parties, including KCC, realised that for partnering to achieve its full potential a common culture had to be developed and driven to give a strategic direction to improve administrative efficiency and better value delivery.  The Alliance Board was chaired by Keith Ferrin (Cabinet Member Environment, Highways and Waste) and included Adam Wilkinson (Managing Director of Environment and Regeneration Directorate), Geoff Harrison-Mee (Director Kent Highway Services), Scott Wardrop (Managing Director Ringway Group), Mike Higgins (Group Vice President Jacobs) and Richard Bevins (UK Director TSUK).  The Board issued delivery directives to the Alliance Executive.  The terms of reference for the Alliance Board were attached as Appendix 1 to the report.  The Board currently met on a monthly basis, and this would probably move to every two months from April 2008.

Alliance Executive – made up of the senior managers from Ringway, Jacobs, TSUK and KCC this management team was chaired by Geoff Harrison-Mee and included Roger Manning, lead Member for Highways.  Their role was to drive the outcomes, performance and management of Kent Highway Services and their terms of reference was also set out in Appendix 1 to the report.  The Executive currently met every two weeks, and this would probably move to monthly from April 2008.

The proposed new shape of Kent Highway Services

(3)       The Transformation process started a little over a year ago following the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

(Report by Mid Kent Transportation Manager)

(Councillor J Wright, Chairman of Swale JTB, was present for this item)

(1)         A petition signed by 76 residents of Ruins Barn Road was submitted by the Ward Member for Woodstock requesting that traffic calming measures and crossing points be introduced on Ruins Barn Road.  Ruins Barn Road, shown in the Appendix to the report, was unclassified and was primarily a rural road, with development only in part, on one side, running from Tunstall towards Woodstock. The road was subject to a 30 mph speed limit along the developed area and was derestricted south of the built up area.

(2)         A report was presented to the Swale Joint Transportation Board (JTB) in March 2007 which recommended that no further action was taken and that the petitioners’ representative was notified accordingly.  Members of the JTB recommended that an interactive speed sign be erected in Ruins Barn Road and that other safety measures be considered along the whole length of the road.

(3)         In circumstances where there was a clear conflict of outcomes between officer recommendations and the JTB resolution, the issue was referred to the Highways Advisory Board for consideration.

(4)         A comprehensive investigation was carried out and involved a speed/volume survey along the 30 mph section of road and visual assessment of the highway environment and analysis of the personal injury crash record. The speed data recorded was summarised as follows:-

(5)   Examination of the injury crash data revealed that there were two slight injury crashes

in the three-year period up 30 September 2006. Both incidents involved the loss of control of vehicles travelling towards Sittingbourne and one was alcohol related. It was not possible to establish any pattern which connected both incidents and therefore no mitigating intervention was advised.

(6)         The current criteria governing the introduction of safety cameras was that they must only be used as a crash reduction measure and not as a speed reduction device. Under the current criteria, there would need to be a minimum of 3 crashes resulting in serious injury or fatality within one kilometre for a site to qualify for consideration. Each year the County Council’s crash database was examined to establish locations where there were high incidents of personal injury crashes.  The locations were then looked at in detail and assessed for possible crash reduction measures and inclusion in the following year’s Integrated Transport bid.

(7)         Where conventional safety measures were either deemed inappropriate or likely to be ineffective, interactive speed signs could be considered, but they were also subject to specific criteria and should only be used where  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

(Report by Mid Kent Transportation Manager)

(1)       Richmond Street was identified as a crash remedial scheme in the 2006/7 Local Transport Plan bid. A total of four isolated child pedestrian crashes were identified in the study area consisting of Richmond Street, Coronation Road, Alma Street, James Street, Jefferson Road, Unity Street, St Helens Road, Wellesley Road and Nursery Close. The initial suggestion was to introduce a 20 mph zone within the area to be enforced by speed humps, build outs and chicanes.

(2)       However, very few of the properties within the area had off-street parking facilities and residents therefore, parked their vehicles on-street. The introduction of physical traffic calming measures would have reduced the available on-street parking. Furthermore, the measures might not sit harmoniously with the recently published school travel plans for the two local schools, Richmond First and Cheyne, and might not fully address the school travel issues identified within the plans.

(3)       Marine Parade was also a crash remedial scheme in the 2006/7 Local Transport Plan bid. At the time of submitting the bid, the three-year record showed a total fourteen crashes, eight of which occurred during wet weather conditions. A traffic management scheme was devised to reduce and maintain lower traffic speeds, regulate parking with marked parking bays, prevent footway parking and provide a safer facility for pedestrians at the footpath entrance to the Cheyne School from Marine Parade.

(4)       The scheme was the subject of a public consultation exercise and the community response was for further consideration to be given to improving the existing lay-by parking facilities and the introduction of conventional speed humps instead of chicanes. This was currently the subject of an investigation to establish the cost and viability of the scheme. However, an analysis of the latest three-year injury crash record indicated that the numbers of crashes were declining, with a reduction from twelve to eight crashes with only one incident occurring during wet weather conditions.  Marine Parade had also been resurfaced recently, which should also have a beneficial impact.

(5)       A report was presented to the Swale Joint Transportation Board (JTB) in March 2007 which recommended that the highway issues in Marine Parade and Richmond Street, Sheerness, because of their adjacent proximity, be combined into one project and explore options to link the resulting scheme proposals to the travel plans of local schools.  The rationale behind the approach was to create a more comprehensive solution to meet the different travel needs of the residential and school communities.

(6)       Members of the JTB recommended that the schemes be progressed separately. In circumstances where there was a clear conflict of outcomes between officer recommendations and the JTB resolution the issue was referred to the Highways Advisory Board for consideration.

(7)       This holistic approach to the combined issues would aid better understanding of the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and motorists and help to develop a scheme that would improve the quality of life of the residents. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

(Report by the Partnerships and Major Projects Director, TSUK, Member of the Kent Highway Services Alliance Executive)

(1)       Paul Burgess, the TSUK Partnerships and Major Projects Director had overseen the activities associated with the strategic KHS objective ‘Improving Public Satisfaction’ on behalf of the KHS Alliance Executive.  A presentation was made to the Highways Advisory Board on the subject.  In addition a summary statement was attached to the report setting out the achievements in this critical area against the agreed programme.

(2)       The KHS Alliance Board adopted seven strategic objectives when the project was originally launched.  One of the objectives was to ‘Improve Public Satisfaction’.  The presentation looked at:-

·        Why improving public satisfaction was important to KHS

·        The scope and range of KHS interactions with the public

·        Complaints and compliments

·        KHS structured interactions and the programme

·        What the ‘public’ in all its forms were telling us

·        The new KHS structure and how this dealt with ‘improving public satisfaction’

·        Key strategic issues for consideration.

(3)       Following a question and answer session, Mr Burgess was thanked for his informative presentation.

(Report by County Transportation Manager)

(1)       The Kent district councils were responsible for the practical application of parking policy within a framework set by the County Council.  The report set out the principles of the parking framework and provided a summary of data for 2006/07 and an update on progress last reported to the Board on 19 September 2006.  Important new work areas had included reviews of parking stock and provision of additional spaces, a pilot to control footway parking and investigations into a clamping/ removals trial.  In August 2007 Government published guidance for the introduction of new parking enforcement legislation under the provisions of the Traffic Management Act (TMA).  The report outlined the implications as well as opportunities for Kent authorities in terms of working more closely together on best practice, providing improved customer facing services and using the provisions in the legislation to help tackle congestion.

(2)       A balanced integrated transport system, with good quality travel options for all was essential to counter the negative impacts of traffic growth.  Effective management of parking was central to the effort to deliver the outcomes set out in the Vision for Kent (Keeping Kent Moving) and Towards 2010.  Towards 2010 also had a target to remove unnecessary yellow lines and provide additional parking spaces.  The objectives, and measures to achieve them, were detailed in the second Local Transport Plan.  Broadly this comprised the implementation of Local Parking Plans and the promotion of best practice across the County through the Kent Parking Group. 

(3)              The best way of developing effective local parking systems and integrating them with transport and planning objectives was through a Local Parking Plan.  Parking Plans had been developed or were under review for Ashford, Canterbury, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge & Malling, Dover, Thanet and Shepway.

(4)              In August the Department for Transport published a consultation document “Parking Policy and Enforcement: Operational Guidance to Local Authorities.” The guidance set out proposed changes to the current Decriminalised Parking system to bring parking management in line with the objectives of the TMA.  The new system would be called Civil Parking Enforcement and would include enforcement of additional parking and some moving offences by camera as well as a new banded penalty charge rate.

(5)       The Kent Parking Group (KPG) included the 12 district councils, Kent County Council and Medway.  The group had links to other parking authorities, enabling the sharing of best practice outside of Kent and was represented at the National Parking Adjudication Service (NPAS).  KHS was also represented on a South East Authorities forum on parking.

(6)              The KPG sought to promote best practice by sharing benchmarking data, to work together on training and support systems, to collaborate on procurement and act as a lobbying focus on issues of common concern.  The group successfully co-ordinated the introduction of decriminalised parking enforcement in Kent.  More recently the KPG had been instrumental in helping to set up a South East group of the British Parking Association.  This was assisting the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

(Report by County Transportation Manager)

(1)               A Satellite Navigation device was becoming the ‘must have’ accessory of today’s motorists. Despite their many strengths there were concerns regarding their accuracy and the tendency of drivers to blindly follow the computer’s instructions regardless of the suitability of that route. Sat-Navs had been criticised for sending an unsuspecting driver down unsuitable roads including farm tracks, narrow lanes and closed roads. Reported incidents whereby a rural village had been wrecked by an invasion of heavy traffic and lorries, because drivers had been given this as a through-route by their Sat-Nav, was on the increase. Occasionally lorries had become wedged in narrow lanes as a result of being guided there by a Sat-Nav.

(2)               Over recent years residents in postcard villages of Kent had experienced the problems with these devices at first hand when lorry drivers had followed the wrong directions on their Sat-Nav systems. The villagers of Mereworth, near Maidstone were in the spotlight this summer when a foreign lorry driver found himself being directed down increasingly narrow roads until his 40ft vehicle became wedged between houses along Beech Road in the village.

(3)               The Department of Transport (DfT) was fully aware of the issues surrounding inappropriate routing of Sat-Nav devices and were committed to introducing improvements to the systems. Back in January 2007 the DfT produced a consultation on the review of In-Vehicle Information Systems (IVIS) Legislation for which the consultation received responses from a variety of sources. A key element of the IVIS questionnaire was the type of legislation that would be appropriate for regulating the Sat-Nav devices The information had been used to create a database and the information was being analysed by the DfT. It was expected that a paper would be presented to the Transport Minister later this year.

(4)               The Sat-Nav Guidance Issues were being looked into by a Network Management Board sub-group set up by the National Traffic Managers Forum that were reviewing some of the traffic management issues that had arisen as a result of inappropriate routing guidance from Sat-Nav systems. The work by the sub-group was focussed initially on understanding the processes that were required to keep base map data and the associated road characteristics up to date. The sub-group currently comprised of the Highways Agency, Transport for London, Ordnance Survey, and various local highway authorities. 

(5)               Access to and updating the Road Routing Information (RRI) was one of the main underlying issues behind poor guidance from Sat-Nav systems. In summary, the data, which was primarily the responsibility of Local Highway Authorities, had to be collated from many sources and was collected in diverse ways by the map and Sat-Nav system suppliers. Data ownership issues further complicated a difficult technical issue. The RRI had a comprehensive restriction and advisory route information facility that included mini roundabouts, width restrictions, weight restrictions, bridge heights, traffic calming, vehicle restrictions,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.