Report of the Head of Network Management.

This report highlights the performance, key outcomes, and successes achieved in 2021/22 along with some of the challenges that will be faced going forward.

The committee considered a report of the Head of Network Management, which provided an update on the substantial works completed and progress achieved by the Highways service and provided an overview of methods of communication to ensure ongoing engagement with residents and members, as well as the performance of the service during the financial year 2021/22.

The key points and themes within the report included:

·   Manchester’s highway network includes over 1,350 km of road length, 2,600 km of footway length and over 350 bridges and structures and the total highway asset has an indicative gross replacement value of over £3 billion, making it the Council’s most valuable asset;

·   Achievements for 2021/22, including the successful delivery of the 5-year capital investment programme, receiving £37.2m in funding from the Mayor’s Challenge Fund to improve walking and cycling facilities, embedding social value and sustainability within procurement and establishing the Highways Access Group;

·   Delivery of planned maintenance, inspections and repairs, street works, winter services, major projects and road safety;

·   The Council’s highway infrastructure assets are currently being maintained in a steady state, with improvements in several areas following the 5-year investment programme. Service delivery performance has generally been maintained with improvements in some areas and decreases in other areas.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions included:

·   How many service requests had been opened in the past 12 months and whether there was a backlog of outstanding requests;

·   The ability for Highways Inspectors and Operatives to resolve any unreported issues in the same visit to reduce repeated call-outs;

·   Noting that speed is a major factor in road collisions;

·   Expressing disappointment in the lack of a road safety budget due to government cuts;

·   Noting that the Council is below the National Highways and Transport (NHT) average satisfaction score for road safety, and expressing hope that this could be improved in the future;

·   What other measures were being taken to promote social value within the Highways service;

·   Noting that there were no capital funds earmarked for Highways in 2023/24;

·   The prioritisation scheme for gully repairs and the timescales around this; and

·   Whether there would be provision for gullies to be repaired or replaced outside of the cyclical programme in 2023/24.

The Executive Member for Environment and Transport opened discussions on the item and advised committee members that they could raise any ward-specific issues with her directly.

The Head of Network Management highlighted that the report related to 2021/22 and that reports were provided annually. He also welcomed any feedback around specific issues and areas to be included in future reports.

In response to a question from the Chair around the amount of service requests, the Head of Network Management explained that the number of requests were available by ward area. He stated that ward dashboards would be reimplemented so that members had sight of all outstanding and completed service requests. A new asset management system had also been procured which would link to the Council’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to provide real-time information as to the progress of service requests.

The Head of Network Management explained that Highways Inspectors could log service requests whilst carrying out their roles across the city. He stated that repairs contractors were provided with up-to-date information before jobs to ensure all outstanding repairs can be undertaken at the same time, where possible. He also informed members that the Council was taking a “find and fix” approach to new contracts so that repairs can be undertaken as quickly as possible.

Members were informed that the Highways service undertook a lot of work on road safety despite having no formal budget. Road safety was included within all highways improvement schemes and £2 million of funding had been received for road safety schemes in 2021/22. It was also stated that the Council was developing a pilot scheme to reduce all 40 and 50 miles-per-hour speed limits in Manchester to 30 miles-per-hour speed limits and the Council would be the first in the country to have no speed limits above 30mph if the scheme was successful. The Head of Network Management also highlighted how the Council worked to ensure a 20 mph speed limit on any new roads developed and that the Mayor of Greater Manchester had recently declared reduced speed limits as a priority and it was hoped that this may lead to funding being available in the future.

In response to a query around social and environmental value, the Head of Network Management stated that the service was always looking for different ways to do things which could be beneficial to carbon reduction and recycling. The Head of Design Commissioning and PMO expanded on this and explained that two specialists had been recruited with one officer responsible for social value and the Highways Access Group and the other responsible for environmental sustainability. There was an extensive list of social value achievements, including inclusive recruitment; donations in kind; tree-planting by developers; and promotional material for Road Safety Week in 2022 which had been funded by developers. The Head of Design Commissioning and PMO also explained that the Highways Access Group was formed in late 2021 and won the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Initiative of the Year Award at the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) industry awards in November 2022. The Group met monthly and included representatives from 10 external organisations.

In response to a query from the Chair regarding gullies, the Head of Network Management explained that there were two programmes of work – cyclical gully cleansing and the Highways Gully Improvement Programme. Records of broken and slow gullies were maintained, and the cyclical programme informed how these were running and whether additional works were needed. The current priority for gully repairs were those on the key route and community networks but members were assured that this would not prevent other urgent repairs to gullies not on these networks.

In summarising the discussion, the Chair suggested that a report on road safety be considered at a meeting in the new municipal year which the committee supported. 

Decision:

That

1.    the report be noted; and

2.    the Committee requests that a report on road safety in Manchester be provided to a meeting in the new municipal year.