(Essex County Council). Councillor Norman Hume, the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation and Tony Ciaburro, the Service Director for Highways and Transportation and, will be attending this meeting to discuss local highway related issues.
Minutes:
The Chairman welcomed County Councillor Hume, the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation and David Forkin the West Essex Area Highways Manager. They were attending the meeting to discuss local highways related issues.
Councillor Hume said, by way of introduction, that they now had a permanent area manager for West Essex and also a permanent deputy which would be good for long term planning. That the figures for killed or seriously injured were the lowest ever on record; and County has established an ‘accident reduction board’, which he chairs, the leading partner of this board is the police.
He was aware that the condition of the roads in the County mattered very much to people and that they were not all up to standard. Independent measures have moved Highways from the lowest quartile to the top quartile. They now invest more money in highways and will keep on working to maintain their position and improve where they can.
Councillor Hume then informed the meeting about their new ‘Localism’ initiative to give priority to schemes in local areas. The County worked with the District Council to set up local ‘Highway Panels’, this would allow them to have some influence over some of the money in the Highways Department. Local Councils could make recommendations as to where Highways could spend certain sums of money. Pilot areas have already been set up with their own ‘Highways Panel’ involving local councils and other local representatives. There will also be an additional resource of ‘Highways Rangers’ a team of two persons who will work with each highway panel to carry out minor cleaning works, repairs to carriageways and street furniture and also some trimming of vegetation. There are also plans for a customer contact centre to improve customer services.
The Chairman then took questions from the meeting.
The representative from Nazeing Parish Council asked about Hoe Lane, it was in a disgusting state. It had been surveyed in 2007 but there has been no follow up action since. David Forkin replied that it was in the improvements programme for this year. They will soon distribute details of schemes that they will deliver this financial year. There will be something for Hoe Lane.
Councillor Bateman, the representative from Chigwell Parish Council complimented the County Highways about their resurfacing work in the Grange Hill area. But, one of their big problems in the area was the pot holes. Also the West Mead Walkway has only been patched up; no resurfacing work had been done. Councillor Bateman also brought up four ways crossing at mini roundabouts. They need one in his area and he has seen a similar one in Buckhurst Hill. Councillor Hume replied that roundabouts are subject to safety audits, but they can be put forward under the new locality programme. There were also other considerations such as congestion to be taken into consideration. David Forkin added that they would look at the specific request, but generally they would not put in a four way roundabout.
Councillor Mrs Harding (Sherring PC) said that Government guidance said that potholes had to be 4cm deep before they were considered dangerous and should be filled in. Do you keep to this definition? Councillor Hume replied that the County had a new policy based on best practice and adopted this year. If a pothole is more than 50mm deep, then it must be repaired. Below 50mm it should be repaired only if it was considered dangerous to road users. If it was not considered dangerous then it would be put into a planned maintenance programme. The policy requires that engineers use their own judgement. That is our policy as far as potholes are concerned.
Councillor Mrs Cooper (Nazeing PC) said that Nazeing shared a border with Hertfordshire where a new site there discharges HGV traffic into Nazeing. As this site grows traffic will increase substantially. This means that large lorries are now going down single track roads, which are beginning to break up. What can you do about this? Councillor Hume sympathised with Mrs Cooper. 90% of damage done to roads is done by HGVs. They have trading standards looking at this and also doing some publicity about this. As for the new industrial site, that brings up employment and economic issues. They do comment on schemes when they come up and should have commented on the Hertfordshire scheme. Councillor Mrs Cooper replied that the County’s policies were ineffectual and they needed more stringent measures and that trading standards cannot do this. Councillor Hume replied that he was not familiar with the situation that she was talking about. It would be incumbent that S106 money should have made things easier for the surrounding area. The Hertfordshire scheme would be difficult to put right. He had met with the MP for the area to discuss this.
District Councillor Knapman said he was pleased that stopping road deaths was a priority of the County. However, as a local Councillor he noted that the Parish Council had asked for a 40mph speed limit for Pudding Land – he could not understand why it was not closed. Councillor Hume said that he had to take a broader view and will implement a 40mph limit there, and improve road and drainage conditions to improve road safety. Road closures are not something we do.
The representative from Nazeing said that Broxbourne will spend £5m to send traffic over the Dobbs Weir Road. Councillor Hume replied that he would have to come and view this road for himself.
County Councillor Tompkins said that the speed limit at Rolls Park Corner and down Chigwell Lane was wrong and nothing had been done so far. Can it be done now? Councillor Hume said he could not change speed limits that quickly, he has asked for it to be looked at. It may be done this year.
Councillor Bassett thanked David Forkin, who had an impossible task and he appreciated his work on highways. He went on to say that they seemed to be reacting to problems. The District has roads not designed for purpose, it need bigger schemes such as by-passes etc. what are we doing about this? Councillor Hume replied that he understood the point being mad. The economy had grown and the highways had not kept pace with it, the infrastructure always grows after the economy. They have been allocated a certain amount of money and have put in several big schemes. Essex has about £70 million to spend on maintenance, a new by-pass can cost from £30 to £100 million. They also need to improve the use of rail freight, for which there are plans but for which funding was needed.
Councillor Bassett said that there was a shortage of roads going East-West. Councillor Hume agreed that East-West roads were critical. There are plans for improvements to the A120, which is one of their prime objectives.
The representative from Theydon Bois said they had not been consulted about their parking problems and the subsequent restrictions imposed. Are there any options to look at this again? Councillor Hume said he was unaware of any errors made on the marking out of the restricted areas. If any errors were made then we would of course rectify them. He was informed that a review of the area had been carried out and people consulted properly. Mr Forkin added that he did not think that they did this project incorrectly, and they did work with the Parish Council. Parking is always very emotive. They will review the scheme, but ask that the scheme be allowed to bed in before a review is carried out.
The member from Loughton Town Council wanted to know the latest status of the ‘Search and Repair’ initiative from last year. They had since heard that this scheme had been replaced by the Highways Rangers scheme. Councillor Hume replied that the Search and Repair scheme had been proposed but had never got of the ground because of cost problems. The Highways Rangers will replace it in time.
The representative from Epping Town asked if Quality Status councils get funding for Highways Panels. Councillor Hume said it was for District and Local Councils to decide how they operated the Highway Panels.
The representative from Waltham Abbey said that Lord Hanningfield announced £1 million funding for Town and Parish Councils. Can this be spent in addition to the current funding? Councillor Hume confirmed that there was an extra £1million for Town and Parish Councils, none had been distributed to date. It will be a competitive scheme and councils will have to apply for funding.
Councillor Mrs Whitehouse wanted to know if the District could have a couple of the simpler versions of Zebra Crossing as she had heard that they could cost between £15 to £20 thousand pounds to install. Mr Forkin replied that it was the simpler kind of crossing that costed £15 to £20 thousand pounds. Some of the more expensive ones could cost about £70 thousand. The smaller type of schemes could be done through the Localism Scheme.
The representative from Lambourne Parish Council asked about a bridge in his area that is being demolished slowly, what can be done about it; bus services were being withdrawn; the road has a 60mph limit where families have to walk down, sometimes without a footway. Mr Forkin said he would look at the footway issue – it was probably overgrown hedges etc. we will remind landlords to cut them back. We will look at reducing the speed limit via the speed management survey.
The Chairman brought up the subject of potholes, when repaired they tended to fall out again (within two weeks). Are the County Council happy with the quality of the work carried out? Mr Forkin asked that he be supplied with a list of these potholes and he would investigate.
The Chairman thanked Councillor Hume and David Forkin for this valuable interactive session and hoped that it would strengthen Highway relationship with the Parishes.