Agenda item

(1)       A Member Highway Fund providing each Member with £25,000 per annum to spend on local highway related issues was approved at County Council in June 2009 as an initial pilot running until March 2011. The scheme had operated well, broadly and had led to the introduction of local schemes which were greatly appreciated by the community. It was innovative and an excellent example of localism in action. The report reviewed the operation of the Member Highway Fund Scheme and recommended its continuation beyond the pilot stage.

(2)       There had been some criticism of the time taken to deliver Member Highway Fund schemes. In some cases the criticism was justified and strengthening of the staffing function had resulted in improved service delivery to Members.   The principle of the Member Highway Fund was its ability to cover costs without drawing on other KHS budgets. Whilst the principle had been broadly established, the small scale nature of some schemes and the requirement to deliver them more speedily had created an additional cost base which was not entirely covered by the investigation fee or overhead charge (overall).

(3)    Other main areas of concern that had been expressed were

·  Investigation Fee for small scale works

·  Time taken to deliver schemes

·  Apparent disparity between costs of KHS quotes and those of external contractors

·  As at 1 January 2011, around £2.0m remained uncommitted by members.

(4)    During debate the following issues were raised:-

(a)                     Mr Manning expressed concern at the delays with contractors and asked, from a Members point of view, for an assurance that there would be a timely delivery.  Mr Hall stated that the current process was being streamlined.  As a result of re-structuring it was proposed to have a simpler approach to the Member Highway Fund.

(b)                     Mr Harrison referred to the overhead charge of 15%, and suggested that it should be 15% or £1,000 whichever was the greater, to avoid considerable amounts of money on big schemes.  The time factor caused great delay and he also suggested that the CLM scheme at County Hall could liaise with the relevant District Council CLM to assist with the administrative role.  Mr Hall undertook to discuss with Mr Harrison.

(c)                     Mr Whiting referred to KHS quotes for works that included an allowance for overheads.  Mr Hall stated that it was a question of finding the right balance, and undertook to discuss with Mr Whiting direct.

(d)                     Mr Manion shared the concern over delays.  He referred to the use of external contractors.  A quote was obtained for one particular project, then was informed that two more quotes were necessary.  He requested that the document be  more explicit in relation to obtaining quotes, and that use of the initial KHS quote was included as one of them.  Mr Hall confirmed that the process of requiring three quotes did include the KHS quote.

(5)         RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Environment Highways and Waste be recommended to approve the following amendments:-

(a)                     the Member Highway Fund be continued beyond the pilot completion date of 31 March 2011, with an annual allocation of £25,000 per Member;

(b)          a removal of the charges for a scheme investigation for the first   four work requests for each Member;

(c)           the overhead charge be raised to 15%;

(d)          Contractors on the KHS Approved Contractors list be used for works subject to pricing to the same specification as KHS; and

(e)          the Member Highway Fund scheme continued to allow the transfer of funds over one financial year only but a one-off amnesty be provided to 31 March 2012 for Members who had not spent their pilot scheme allocation, subject to agreement through the budget setting process and an undertaking by Members to commit the funds by 1 April 2011. After 31 March 2012, any unspent funds from the trial period be transferred out of the scheme.