Issue details

Changes to the Department for Transport (DfT) rules for funding highway maintenance have been introduced through its incentive fund to encourage local authorities to embed the use of asset management techniques into their management of highway maintenance and decision making around funding and priorities.  The main aim of the asset management approach being encouraged by the DfT is to clearly link investment decisions with an understanding of what that means in terms of outcomes.  In January 2016, Kent assessed itself as a Band 1 authority for incentive fund purposes.  If Kent cannot evidence that it has fully adopted the use of asset management and methodology and in doing so progressed to Band 3, it will receive £13m less in capital funding over the next four years.

On 13 January 2016, the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee resolved to support the embedding of asset management principles.  A Member Task and Finish Group involving Members from each political group was set up and had met six times during the year.  The target is to get to Band 2 for 2017/18 and Band 3 for 2018/19 to maximise Capital maintenance resource.  In order to get to Band 2, the authority needs to introduce and adopt a lifecycle planning (for roads only) and manage investment on that basis. The authority also needs to publish an asset management “policy” describing how asset management principles will support KCC’s strategic objectives and strategy that clearly links the highway asset management approach with the corporate vision.

On 8 July 2016, the E&TCC endorsed “Our Approach to Asset Management in Highways”, a top level document that describes the key principles adopted in applying asset management to achieve the authority’s strategic objectives.  Since then, Members and officers have developed a detailed “strategy document entitled “Implementing our Approach to Asset Management in Highways”.  This key decision concerns the adoption of the approach being described in this document, making investment decisions that are informed by an understanding of the outcomes associated with different maintenance strategies and associated funding scenarios. Assuming the approach is adopted Kent will be able to submit a Band 2 Incentive Fund rating in January 2017 for 2017/18