Agenda item

(Report by Capital Programme Manager)

(1)       Further to Minute 3 of 6 March 2007, the report provided an update on progress of the major transport and highway schemes.  The Board welcomed the reports and the intention was to continue to provide them half yearly and when there were important issues to bring to Members’ notice.  From 1 April 2007, the Major Transport Projects Team rejoined Kent Highway Services and came under the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste.  The first 6 months of 2007/08 had been dominated by the considerable efforts of the Team in trying to progress the Growth Area schemes in Kent Thameside and Ashford that were constrained by the funding deadline of 31March 2008.

(2)       Several schemes had been recognised in various industry awards:-

Fastrack

·                    National Transport Awards 2007 – Winner of the bus category.  This was a major achievement as the National Transport Awards were probably the most prestigious of the many transport awards.

·                    Certificate of Excellence –2007 from HST Integration Project.  HST was the Interreg funded initiative for accessibility improvements related to the high-speed train network in Northwest Europe.

·                    Jacobs Performance Excellence Award 2007 – This was a Jacobs European award and particularly satisfying to the consultant and client team that Fastrack should have been selected from a diverse range of projects.

A228 Leybourne & West Malling Bypass

·                    Considerate Contractors - Bronze Award

M20J4

·                    Institution of Civil Engineers Thomas Brassey Awards 2007 – Runner up in Major Schemes Category.

·                     Considerate Contractors - Silver Award

(3)       A progress or status report on Fastrack Thames Way, Fastrack Everards Link Phase 2, Ashford Ring Road, Newtown Road Bridge, Ashford, Rushenden Relief Road, Eurokent Phases 4 & 5, Sittingbourne Northern Relief Road, East Kent Access Phase 1, East Kent Access Phase 2, A228 Leybourne & West Malling Bypass traffic management works, other schemes and Land matters was set out in the Appendix to the report.  For brevity, only some of the background provided in previous reports was provided with the focus given to activity in the last half year.

(4)       In the last half year, there had been substantial progress and the key milestone achievements had been:-

·                    Contract award and start of construction for Fastrack Thamesway – completion in November 2007.

·                    Contract award and start of construction for Fastrack Everards Link Phase 2 – completion in July 2008.

·                    The completion of the first stage of Ashford Ring Road and transformation to 2 way operation on 1 July.

·                    The award of contract for public realm improvement of Bank Street, Ashford – completion in March 2008.

·                    Tender invitation for the complex innovative public realm next stage of Ashford Ring Road – contract award in September 2007 and completion in July 2008.

·                    Advance contract award for Newtown Road bridge Ashford – Contract award in August 2007 and completion July 2008.

·                    Tender invitation for Eurokent Phases 4 & 5 – contract award likely in September 2007 and completion October 2008.

·                    Tender invitation for Rushenden Relief Road – tenders returned in August 2007.

·                    Regain of momentum on Sittingbourne Northern Relief Road.

·                    East Kent Access Phase 1 completed – completion in September 2007.

·                    Construction of the traffic management works associated with the A228 Leybourne & West Malling Bypass – completion in September 2007.

·                    Withdrawal of statutory objections to East Kent Access Phase 2 Orders and a short uncontroversial public inquiry – Public Inquiry held in April 2007.

·                    DfT had identified as an exemplar for having good project management arrangements in place with regard to major schemes and offered us as contacts to other promoters to share good practice and experience.

(5)       The key problems in the period had been:-

·                    The continued difficulty in progressing Government funded growth area infrastructure projects against the funding deadline of 31 March 2008 and the need to be innovative in trying to keep them on track.

·                    The statutory objections to the Compulsory Purchase Order for Sittingbourne Northern Relief Road that had demanded a rethink on the junction layout at Ridham Avenue.

(6)       The Board noted the report.