Cabinet Member decisions

Proposed Decision:

To procure and delegate authority to the Director of Highways and Transportation to award and enter into appropriate contractual arrangements for the provision of Highway Weed Control including any potential extension periods in accordance with the expectations set out in the report.

Further Information:

The Council has a legal duty to keep roads and pavements clear of vegetation for safe passage of highway users. The main service areas comprise; the control of weeds within hard surfaces; the control of invasive and injurious weeds such as Japanese Knotweed, Giant Hogweed and Ragwort; the management of invasive species such as oak processionary moth and brown tail moth. Due to the specialised nature of the works a standalone specialist contract is required. The current contract expires on March 31st, 2023.

Two weed treatments per year will be provided across twelve districts in Kent.

To enable this delivery across the county the following lots are being sought:

•           Lot 1 - Dartford & Gravesham 

•           Lot 2 – Sevenoaks & Tonbridge & Malling

•           Lot 3 – Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells 

•           Lot 4 – Ashford & Swale

•           Lot 5 – Canterbury & Thanet

•           Lot 6 – Folkestone & Hythe

Other Options Considered:

Option 1 – Do Nothing

Discounted as The Council has a legal duty to keep roads and pavements clear of vegetation for safe passage of highway users.

Option 2 – Deliver in House

Discounted as this is not a core service to the authority. Due to the limited period to apply weed control, the staff would not be utilised all year round and this is of specialist nature.

Option 3 – Procure one provider to deliver the county

Discounted as unlikely to access SME providers and fails to provide resilience throughout the county.

As Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport I agree to procure and delegate authority to the Director of Highways and Transportation to award and enter into appropriate contractual arrangements for the provision of Highway Weed Control including any potential extension periods.

Proposed decision

The Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport is asked to approve the:

1.         proposed decision to fund an annual pothole and patching programme (Pothole Blitz) of £7m per annum totalling £21m over 3 years;

2.         delegation of authority to the Corporate Director of Growth Environment and Transport and the Corporate Director of Finance to agree funding mechanisms to support the programmes; and

3.         delegation of authority to the Director of Highways and Transportation to award and enter appropriate contractual arrangements for the provision of the Pothole and Patching programme (Pothole Blitz) contracts as shown at Appendix A.

Background

Highways and Transport has a duty to ensure the effective discharge of the Council’s statutory duties and powers as Local Transport & Highway Authority, in particular its duty of care to help ensure safe passage for all road users. DfT has reduced the highways grant to KCC by £9m impacting the budget available for asset management of all highway’s assets, including an allocation for pothole and patching work. To ensure this work can continue, Members asked officers in Highways Asset Management and Corporate Finance to consider funding options to support a 3-year pothole programme without increasing the council’s financial borrowing commitments.

The pothole blitz programmes over recent years have proven to be successful in terms of delivering local highway repairs. This was in addition to the ongoing maintenance, major resurfacing and surface treatments programmes delivered in line with the authorities published approach to Asset Management

This additional work has contributed towards the reduction in customer pothole related enquires received over the past 5 years. The graph below details and highlights the lower numbers particularly over the winter period.

Additional capital grant funding for potholes received from DfT alongside additional KCC capital borrowing has enabled a Pothole Blitz programme to be delivered over the previous 2 financial years without adversely affecting any other highways asset capital budget.

The capital grant funding for highway maintenance has been reduced significantly by the DfT for 2022/23 and this will continue for the next 3 years. This 20% reduction amounts to £9m per annum and £27m over the 3-year period.

This has placed a pressure on the capital budgets for management and maintenance of highways assets. It was not possible to sustain funding for critical assets such as drainage, footways, structures, and highway inspectors repairs whilst also funding a Pothole Blitz campaign fully.

Officers were requested to examine options to facilitate the delivery of a pothole blitz campaign and without increasing in year capital borrowing.

This will most likely be achieved by a re-profiling of existing borrowing as the short-term funding route, however the full details of this are yet to be agreed by the relevant Corporate Directors.

Contract and Procurement

The existing pothole blitz contracts have been extended to deliver this year’s programme however this is the final allowable extension under the contract.

A commissioning and procurement exercise will be undertaken later this year and will seek to review the optimum number of contracts required to deliver the most efficient and effective future programmes of the pothole blitz.

Any alternatives considered

Reduce expenditure on pothole programme.

As Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, I agree the:

1.         decision to fund an annual pothole and patching programme (Pothole Blitz) of £7m per annum totalling £21m over 3 years;

2.         delegation of authority to the Corporate Director of Growth Environment and Transport and the Corporate Director of Finance to agree funding mechanisms to support the programmes; and

3.         delegation of authority to the Director of Highways and Transportation to award and enter appropriate contractual arrangements for the provision of the Pothole and Patching programme (Pothole Blitz) contracts.