Agenda and minutes

To note that Mr M Balfour and Mr H Rayner  have replaced  Mr P Homewood and Mrs C Bell as Members of the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee.

1.    Mr Payne welcomed Mr M Balfour and Mr H Rayner as new Members to the committee

2.    RESOLVED that the membership change be noted.

To receive apologies for absence and notification of any substitutes present

Apologies were received from Mr T Bond and Mr A Cook.

To elect a Chairman of the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee.

1.    Mr M Payne proposed, seconded by Mr A Hills that Mr M Balfour was elected as Chairman of this Cabinet Committee.

2.    RESOLVED that Mr M Balfour was elected Chairman to the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee.

To receive any declarations of interest made by Members in relation to any matter on the agenda.  Members are reminded to specify the agenda item number to which it refers and the nature of the interest being declared.

Mr B Lewis declared an interest as an employee of Lake Market Research which was used as part of the bus consultation.

To consider and approve the minutes as a correct record.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th July 2018 are a correct record and that they be signed by the Chairman.

To receive verbal updates from Mr M Hill, OBE, Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services and Mr M Whiting, Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste.

1.    Mr M Hill (Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services) informed the Committee that the Natural Ways to Wellbeing was a project run by the Countryside Partnership and Mind to help those with Mental Health problems engage with nature using elements of ecology. Mr Hill appreciated the level of support shown by the Dartford Members through their contribution of Member grants.

2.       Mr Hill said that the Ash Dieback art project, run by the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) was launched on 14^th September. The project aimed to raise awareness of the urgent cultural response required to tackle the demise of the ash trees. Mr Hill informed Members that it was expected that the Ash tree population would decline by 98%. Research was being carried out to try and develop a disease resistant strain and this could be used to plant replacement trees, however, this was not a cure.

3.    Mr Whiting (Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste) confirmed that the A26 sink hole was due to be completed by the 7October 2018, subject to weather conditions and third parties meeting their agreed installation dates.

4.    Further to the report to an earlier E&T Cabinet Committee regarding the proposed consultation on charging for non-household waste, the consultation had started and due to close on 1 November 2018, following which a decision would be made on whether Kent County Council introduced a charge for such waste. Mr Whiting also informed the Committee of the extended opening hours at Dartford, Maidstone and Swanley HWRC’s, with a 6pm closure on Wednesdays and a 6.30pm closure on Thursdays. The extended hours would be gradually reduced through September.

5.    Mr Whiting said that Highways England was preparing a Development Consent Order (DCO) which would form part of the initial process for the Statutory Consultation on the Lower Thames Crossing. Mr Whiting assured Members that the response would be presented to the Committee prior to its submission. The Lower Thames Crossing Consultation was due to start in October 2018.

(a)  In response to Members concerns regarding the Crossrail 1 Line to Abbey Woods, Mr Whiting confirmed that the DFT had announced that this had been delayed until the autumn of 2019. With regards to Thameslink changes Mr Whiting said that getting the service right was fundamental. Maidstone would start to see the benefit of the changes by December 2019 and Kent County Council fully supported this position. Mr Whiting agreed to chase the response from Joseph Johnson (Minister of State, Department for Transport).

(b)  Mr Whiting confirmed that data had been received from the Lower Thames Crossing on the proposed traffic modelling and said that this would be available to Members in conjunction with the final consultation report.

(c)   In response to non-household waste, Mr Whiting confirmed that there was a definitive list of non-household waste items that would be circulated to Members of the Committee.

6.    RESOLVED that the verbal updates be noted, with thanks.

To receive and note a report that shows progress made against targets for Key Performance Indicators

Richard Fitzgerald (Business Intelligence Manager, Performance, Strategic Business, Development &Intelligence) was in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Fitzgerald introduced the Performance Dashboard which showed progress made against targets set for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) up to the end of July 2018. Mr Fitzgerald advised the committee that the data for ‘DT06 – Percentage for Highway Licence applications completed online’ was available and should have been included within the published dashboard.

2.    In response to Members queries regarding DT04, Mr Fitzgerald agreed to correct the wording.

3.    In response to Members concerns regarding the newly adopted incentivised model and the proportion of waste diverted from landfill, Mr S Jones (Director of Highways, Transportation and Waste) said that the Districts involved had shown a positive improvement. He informed Members that whilst the figure for landfill waste remained relatively low and was within the set target level, the key areas of concern were those that posed a hazardous risk such as animal and asbestos disposal. Mr Jones said that the incentivised model could be adopted by other District Councils, however, the model would need to be compatible and phased in gradually.

4.    Members raised concern regarding the Year to Date figure of the LED Streetlight conversions. Mr Jones said that Kent Count Council had recently awarded the maintenance contract to Bouygues Energies and Services Infrastructure UK Ltd. (BYEs). Prior to the this, streetlighting maintenance was provided through the highways term maintenance Mr Jones was confident that the new supplier would improve the LED repair rates.

5.    In response to the management of footways, Mr Whiting agreed to consider a Key Performance Indicator to monitor these going forward.

6.    Members questioned the measures put in place to tackle fly-tipping as a result of charging for municipal waste, Mr Whiting said that work would continue to be done with the District Councils and partner agencies to monitor fly-tipping. Mr Whiting reiterated to Members that the consultation on charging for non-household waste items had commenced and that a decision would only be made once the public view had been sought.

7.    In response to Members queries regarding the effectiveness of the new pothole repair procedures, Mr Jones said that an additional £10 million had been budgeted for to assist with further repairs. The Pothole Blitz was a proactive campaign that helped the Highways Team to identify immediate risks, trial new treatments and create an intelligence led approach to ensure well informed decisions in the future.

8.    Members commended the work of the officers and furthermore, commended Mr Love for his work on the Kent Resource Partnership

9.    RESOLVED that the reported be noted.

To note and comment on the report.

Phil Lightowler (Head of Public Transport) was in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr M Whiting (Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste) introduced the report which provided Members with an update on the progress of the Big Conversation Consultation and the next stage of the programme. Mr Whiting took the opportunity to thank Rob Clarke (Project Manager), Phil Lightowler (Head of Public Transport) along with all colleagues, Members and Parish Councillors for their extensive work and input at all public meetings.

2.    Mr Lightowler said that the consultation sought to understand community views on three proposed ideas: feeder services, bookable services and taxi-bus services, the concept of which was to link communities without routes to mainline services. The Big Conversation Consultation was supported through a series of public meetings and a survey which received 2355 responses. The next stage of the programme involved analysing the responses which would help to inform the development of the pilot schemes. An update report would then be presented to the Programme Board and then to the Cabinet Member for approval. A final report would be considered by the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee Mr Lightowler informed the Committee that the Bus Summit was due to be held on 30 October 2018 and details of the event were within the report if Members wished to attend.  Mr Whiting confirmed that the Bus Summit would be webcast to facilitate those who could not attend.

3.    In response to Members concerns regarding the £18 per person subsidy figure, Mr Whiting clarified that the objective of the consultation was not solely about buses - it was to identify ways in which Kent County Council could save money on the expensive subsidies and how these could be reinvested into rural areas to improve and/or provide public transportation. The specific question around whether people were willing to pay towards an improved public transport service was asked at every meeting, however, the response to this question was not yet known and would be available in the published Lake Market Research report. Mr Whiting said that there was a £0.5 million budget set aside to facilitate the pilot schemes, however, the pilots would not be introduced until 2019. The criteria against which the three ideas were being evaluated against were set out at paragraph 3.2 on page 33 of the agenda.

4.    Mr Lightowler assured members that the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) permits were a statutory obligation for Kent County Council and those who were entitled to and used an ENCTS permit would not be required to pay for public transportation. There were no proposals to introduce charging, however, Mr Lightowler acknowledged that this had been a major misconception reported throughout the Big Conversation. The Consultation focused on very new and radical ideas that addressed issues of entitled ENCTS users not having access to bus services and asked those users for their views on whether they would be willing to pay a voluntary contribution to fund a bus  ...  view the full minutes text for item 118.

To comment on and note:

1.    the evidence gathered to date and emerging analysis; and

2.    the proposed themes and potential actions outlined in Section 5, to help shape the final draft Strategy

Carolyn McKenzie (Head of Sustainable Business and Communities) and Deborah Kapaj (Sustainable Estates Programme Manager, Sustainable Business and Communities) were in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Payne (Deputy Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste) introduced the report that provided Members with an update on the development of an Energy and Low Emissions Strategy for Kent and Medway and the emerging priorities for action.

2.    Ms McKenzie said that the paper was a further update to the report presented to the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee in May 2018 which set out the evidence base and suggested actions for early consultation feedback. The on-going development of the strategy would continue to be informed through extensive engagement with stakeholders and the Kent Environment Strategy Cross Party Members Group. Ms McKenzie highlighted to the Committee the five key themes (pages 54 – 57) and the potential options for action, which included:

·         Leadership and Governance

·         Evidence and Intelligence 

·         Policy, Planning and Guidance

·         Financing and Investment

·         Communications and Engagement  

Ms McKenzie concluded that the specific costed measures had not yet been defined, however, the evidence gathered indicated a clear need for further action in Kent with support from District Partners, the Kent and Medway Economic Partnership and the SE Local Enterprise Partnership to deliver sustainable growth, improve health outcomes and address the risks of climate change. The proposed  initiatives would be presented to the Committee at a later date and assurance was given to Members that the proposals  would be evaluated using a business case, value for money approach with external funding to ensure maximum impact.

3.    In response to Members queries, Ms McKenzie confirmed that the preparation of the action plan had been moved to the autumn as complex areas required further research. Further work was also needed to be undertaken with partners to ensure a cohesive strategy.

4.    With regard to anti-idling policies, work had been done in conjunction with Canterbury District Council to implement an anti-idling policy in an attempt to reduce pollution. Work had also been carried out with Licencing authorities which looked at providing taxi ranks with electric charging points.

5.    Ms McKenzie explained that many of the potential actions to improve energy and low emissions could not be enforced by Kent County Council, however, the Council was  exploring the feasibility of those options which was why the report used terminology like ‘exploration.’

6.    In response to nuclear sources and emission levels, Ms McKenzie said that the paper focused primarily on the work that had already began, however, Districts had raised questions concerning nuclear power sources and work around this would be considered. In regard to fusion production, Ms McKenzie hoped that the strategy would contain a section that looked at all types of new technology and the feasibility work required around these types of technology. Ms McKenzie agreed to look at whether a breakdown of the fuel consumption could be provided to Members.

7.    Mr Whiting commended the work of Mr Payne who was leading on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 119.

To note the report and comment on the contents.

Andrew Loosemore (Head of Highways Asset Management) and Kathryn Moreton (Asset Management, Drainage, Structures and Safety Barriers) were in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr M Whiting (Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste) introduced the report that outlined the approach taken by the Highways Asset Management team in managing highway structures in Kent, with specific reference to sub-standard highway structures. Mr Whiting was pleased to announce that there had been no structural failures resulting in injury reported in the last 30 years.

2.    Mr Loosemore assured Members that the management of highway structures was underpinned by a regime of regular inspections and quality control processes to reduce the deterioration and degradation of bridges. The report demonstrated the process for identifying substandard structures and the resources available to do so.

3.    Mrs Moreton said that each year the RAC Foundation would submit a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to all bridge authorities in England seeking data on the condition of substandard structures (bridges over a 1.5m span). The RAC Foundation report revealed that 4.4% of bridges were deemed to be substandard and did not meet the current loading requirements. In Kent however, the number of substandard bridges sat at 3.8% which was below the national average. The report also identified that it would cost £934 million to repair all substandard structures within England which would be equivalent to £271,000 per structure. Mrs Moreton said that whilst there had been 39 substandard structures identified in Kent, this was a consistent figure and was below the national average.

4.    In response to Members queries, Mr Loosemore said that the mitigating measures in place ensured safety for the road user and the structure itself and this was monitored on a regular basis. Whilst there was a need for further funding, the approach to managing structures was based on risk. Those structures identified as an immediate risk would be completed as a priority and those that could not be addressed in the same year would continue to have regular inspections and mitigating measures would be put in place to ensure the safety of the structure and the road user. Mr Loosemore confirmed that structures submerged in water received specialist underwater inspections.

5.    Mrs Moreton said that highway bridges were subject to a principle inspection, however, should concerns arise then a more comprehensive inspection would also be carried out with increased monitoring every three to six months to identify degradation of structures that may be deemed to be more complex.

6.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To note the proposed  changes to the Winter Service Policy for 2018/19:

(s. 5.5.4)   Observational data from road weather sensors will be used to

                 validate pre-salting decisions

(s. 6.1.1)  Secondary routes to be treated when all primary routes treated and resources available

(s. 6.4.2)  Farmers trial to be expanded

Carol Valentine (Highway Manager, West) was in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr M Whiting (Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste) introduced the report thatset out the revisions to the Winter Service Policy. Mr Whiting said that there had been no substantive changes to the general custom and practice in which the Highways Team operate in terms of managing the winter service, the changes within the policy were simply to reflect that practice.

2.    Mrs Valentine drew Members attention to page 84 of the agenda which highlighted the work that had been done over the summer to improve the winter service. The three key changes to the policy included: the Smart Winter Project whereby additional sensors would be used to monitor the road surface temperatures which would in turn provide data to optimise primary routes; the optimisation of secondary routes; and the farmers gritting trial which again, fed into optimising resources and looking at possible secondary routes. Mrs Valentine advised the Committee that the Equality Impact Assessment was available and would be circulated to Members.

3.    In response to the minimum salt stock levels, Mrs Valentine said that there was 16,800 tonnes of salt which was sufficient and would cover the entire winter period.

4.    Mrs Valentine confirmed that Parish Seminars were due to take place in November 2018 and the Winter Service Policy would be a key item on the agenda for discussion.

5.    In response to queries regarding media and communication, Mr Loosemore agreed that communication was essential during the winter season and was a valuable asset during the Beast from the East in helping to keep people safe. There was guidance issued by the Department for Transport (DfT) which was available on the Kent County Council website, however, work continued to be done on improving public guidance. 

6.    RESOLVED that the proposed changes to the Winter Service Policy for 2018/19 to include the following:

(s.5.5.4) Observational data from road weather sensors will be used to validate pre-salting decisions

(s. 6.1.1) Secondary routes to be treated when all primary routes treated and resources available

(s. 6.4.2) Farmers trial to be expanded

 be noted.

To consider and agree a work programme for 2018/19.

1.    Mrs Cooper (Corporate Director of Growth, Environment and Transport) informed the Committee that the Kent Port Access Contingency Planning item had been deferred to the November Cabinet Committee due to the complex nature of the work involved. The Members request to address concerns regarding the management of traffic and freight was acknowledged.

2.    RESOLVED that the Work Programme be noted subject to the inclusion of the following items:

(a)  A factual report on the progress of the Manston Airport Development Consent Order

(b)  A progress report on the railroad ferry service into Ramsgate

To note and comment on the contents of the report .

Andrew Loosemore (Head of Highways Asset Management) and Sue Kinsella (Streetlighting Asset Management) were in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr M Whiting (Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport and Waste) introduced the report that provided an overview of the Street Lighting Term Services Contract. Mr Whiting was pleased to announce that the project was the largest of its type in the UK and had been successful in delivering on time, within budget and with very few complaints due to the strong partnership between the staff at Bouygues Energies and Services Infrastructure UK Ltd. (BYEs) and the officers within Kent County Council.

2.    Mr Loosemore informed the Committee that Kent County Council had entered into a fifteen-year term Maintenance Contract with BYEs as of 1^st September 2018. The LED conversion project was valued at £40 million and required a specific team to manage the contract and all aspects of eventualities to ensure a high standard of service deliverance.

3.    Ms Kinsella informed the Committee that as of June 2018, a total of 100,000 conversions has been completed. In recognition of the success of the project and its achievements in reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions, the Highways Asset Management Team would be attending the Highway Magazine Awards as finalists on 17 October 2018. 

4.    In response to queries regarding the number of LED conversions in Thanet, Ms Kinsella confirmed that there was 15,000 still needing completion across the county. The process had been prolonged in Thanet as the LED conversions could not take place until the concrete columns had been replaced.

5.    Ms Kinsella confirmed that Kent County Council maintained streetlighting for seven District Councils. A record of ownership for each streetlight was available and should Members have a query regarding this, the Streetlight Asset Management Team would be able to assist.

6.    RESOLVED that the contents of the report be noted.