Report to Cabinet Forward Plan reference number: County ...

AGENDA ITEM 10

Report to Cabinet Forward Plan reference number:

FP/127/05/15

Date of Meeting: 20 October 2015 County Divisions affected by the

decision:

All divisions within Basildon, Castle Point and Rochford Districts

Title of report: South East LEP Local Growth Fund Transport schemes– A127 Road Safety and Network Resilience Package

Report by: Cllr Rodney Bass, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation

Responsible Director: Paul Bird – Director for Commissioning: Transport and Infrastructure

Enquiries to: Alastair Southgate, Transportation Strategy Manager, Place Commissioning (Transport and Infrastructure)

Tel: 03330 130561 Email: [email protected]

1. Purpose of report 1.1 Essex County Council (the Council) has bid for funding for a number of

transport schemes. The bids were approved by Cabinet and the schemes were included in the Council’s Local Transport Plan (2015 – 2021): Strategy and Priority Projects for Stimulating Economic Growth and subsequently included within the SELEP Strategic Economic Plan programme and within the Capital Programme for delivery.

1.2 The South East LEP and the Department for Transport have agreed to part

fund a number of schemes. That funding has already been included in the Capital Programme as part of the 2015-16 budget approval process.

1.3 This report seeks approval to proceed with the A127 Road Safety and

Network Resilience Package (the A127 Package) on the basis set out in this report.

2. Recommendations 2.1. To authorise the Director for Commissioning: Transport and Infrastructure to

implement the A127 Road Safety and Network Resilience Package already included in the Council’s capital programme for 2015/16 and

subsequent years with a total existing budget of £8.0m (this total includes £114,000 which was spent in 2014-15)

2.2 To authorise re-profiling of existing S106 contributions, and the addition to the capital programme of new S106 funding as follows:

Additional £250,000 S106 contribution received from Oakwood Grange Additional £13,000 in accrued interest making the total scheme value of £8.263m (£114,000 has already been spent

in 2014-15 leaving a current programme value of £8.149m) 2.3 To authorise the Council to enter into a funding agreement with the South

East Local Enterprise Partnership or its representative, if required. , releasing £4m Local Growth Fund for the A127 Road Safety and Network Resilience Package

2.4 To authorise the Director for Commissioning to procure contracts for the

implementation of the scheme using appropriate framework agreements or the Council’s existing contract with Ringway Jacobs.

3. Background and proposal 3.1. In February 2014 Cabinet agreed to the adoption of the Local Transport Plan

(2015 – 2021): Strategy and Priority Projects for Stimulating Economic Growth which includes a list of priority transport projects. This priority list of transport projects formed the Essex County Council submission to the SELEP for inclusion within its Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) programme.

3.2. The SELEP Growth Deal was agreed with Government in July 2014 to deliver the economic growth aspirations contained with the SEP. The Growth Deal includes a commitment by the Council to deliver an agreed programme of growth related transport projects between 2015/16 and 2020/21 in return for a commitment from Government to make available Local Growth Fund (LGF) capital funding to part fund the delivery of these projects.

3.3. Council funds have been included in the capital programme as part of the 2015/16 budget, for the delivery of this programme.

3.4. Funding for all projects on the A127 was retained by the Department for

Transport and excluded from the letter confirming the award to SELEP of LGF sent by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to SELEP on 6th February 2015. It was expected that this funding would be released following the submission of a business case to DfT. The DfT has now agreed that funding previously retained by DfT for this project will follow a local approval route and will be released to SELEP following the approval of the business case by SELEP. This funding is additional to the allocation £57.2m LGF to schemes promoted by the Council and confirmed in the Award Letter. A letter confirming this allocation is attached at Appendix 1.

3.5. The release of LGF to fund the second tranche of SELEP Growth Deal projects was approved by the SELEP shadow Accountability Board on 19th July 2015. This approval included LGF allocations to the project named within this report.

3.6. The profile agreed at that time was as set out below. Note that this has now been superseded because there is a further £250,000 S106 contribution and a revised profile is set out in the table at section 5.1.

Received 2014-15

2015-16 2016-17 & Future Years

Total Scheme Approval

£’000 £’000 £’000

Council Contribution

3,000 3,000

LGF Grant 600 3,400 4,000

Third party (S106) 200 800 1,000

Total 200 600 7,200 8,000

Details of the Schemes 3.7. The A127 corridor is a vitally important primary route for the South Essex

area which connects the M25, Basildon and Southend (including London Southend Airport). At peak periods, the A127 carries traffic volumes which exceed those on many urban motorways elsewhere in the UK. The route is heavily congested, especially during peak periods, when the road is extremely sensitive to incidents and collisions resulting in unreliable journeys. Realising much of the proposed growth in the area depends upon addressing the significant reliability and capacity issues within the A127 corridor.

3.8. The A127 Capacity Improvements and Network Resilience Package, includes the following components:

A127 / A132 Nevendon interchange – capacity improvements to a grade separated junction.

A127 / A129 Rayleigh Weir interchange – signals upgrade.

A127 / B186 Warley interchange – installation of signals on slip roads and widening of slip roads where necessary.

A127 Signing improvements.

3.9. Construction of this package will support housing and job growth by making best use of the existing highway network to reduce congestion at key pinch-points on the network, improve resilience of the corridor, and improve journey time reliability. The package also complements the planned improvements at A127 / A130 Fairglen interchange and junction improvements in Southend at Kent Elms and The Bell and the Southend strategic maintenance package.

3.10. A full description of the A127 Capacity Improvements and Network Resilience Package is attached at appendix 2.

3.11. The A127 Package will proceed to a full design stage and whilst communication strategies are in place for each activity ensuring that stakeholders, local residents and commuters are fully aware of the proposals and how it will affect them during the construction, the Director for Commissioning: Transport and Infrastructure will continue to monitor the impact of the scheme. Appropriate consultation will be undertaken where necessary. Where there is no long term impact then information will be provided to local residents through local newspapers and on site.

3.12. Where a component of the package is the subject of consultation any objections which cannot be resolved will be referred to the Cabinet Member for consideration before a commitment is granted to the scheme.

4. Policy context and Outcomes Framework 4.1. The proposal links strongly with the County Council’s Corporate Plan A Vision

for Essex 2013-2017, specifically supporting the aims to ‘develop and maintain the infrastructure that enables our residents to travel and our businesses to grow’ and ‘support employment and entrepreneurship across our economy’.

4.2. The Corporate Outcomes Framework 2014-2018 sets out the seven high level outcomes that we want to achieve to ensure prosperity and wellbeing for our residents. Securing these outcomes will make Essex a more prosperous county; one where people can flourish, live well and achieve their ambitions.

4.3. The seven outcomes are listed below:

Children in Essex get the best start in life

People in Essex enjoy good health and wellbeing

People have aspirations and achieve their ambitions through education, training and lifelong-learning

People in Essex live in safe communities and are protected from harm

Sustainable economic growth for Essex communities and businesses

People in Essex experience a high quality and sustainable environment

People in Essex can live independently and exercise control over their lives

4.4. The proposal in this report is consistent with our principles and fully supports

the achievement of our outcomes. Delivery of the SELEP SEP programme will;

Drive economic growth in Essex, widening access to employment and improving the competitiveness of the Essex economy, driving sustainable economic growth for Essex communities and businesses.

Provide safe and sustainable transport for many people living within Essex enabling access to education, training and health services and supporting independent living.

Fully supports the Draft Economic Plan for Essex (EPfE) delivering economic growth along the A12 and Great Eastern Mainline, M11 and

West Anglia mainline, A127 London-Basildon-Southend and A13 London-Thurrock-Canvey Island, and A120 Haven Gateway Growth Corridors.

4.5. The proposal supports the delivery of the Essex Local Transport Plan vision for a transport system that supports sustainable economic growth and helps deliver the best quality of life for the residents of Essex by providing connectivity for Essex communities and international gateways to support sustainable economic growth and regeneration.

5. Financial Implications

5.1. This scheme is funded from multiple sources as identified below:

A Council funding contribution of £3.0m towards scheme construction costs has been included in the Capital Programme for 2016/17 and profiled over subsequent years.

SELEP grant funding of £4.0m has already been approved and accepted by the Council. Each grant award has been ringfenced by SELEP against the delivery of each of the specific projects. The grant funding would be repayable should the scheme not be delivered, and it is anticipated that any underspends would be shared between the Council and SELEP on a 50:50 basis.

S106 Contributions - £1m from the Courtauld Road waste site along with

£13,000 in accrued interest (£114,000 spent in 2014-15), plus £250,000 from Oakwood Grange, Cranes Farm Road.

This brings the total scheme value to £8.263m. £114,000 of this

allocation has already been spent in 2014-15, resulting in a total

allocation from 2015-16 to 2019-20 of £8.149m

In addition the Council has incurred £255,121 of implementation costs for this scheme to date funded from the existing Advanced Design capital budget.

Please select: Business Case Type Invest to Grow

Asset Category Highways Infrastructure

£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000

Total 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Capital Costs exc Contingency 8,263 114 1,749 2,600 2,000 400 1,400

Contingency - - - - - - -

Total Capital Costs (for Capital Programme) 8,263 114 1,749 2,600 2,000 400 1,400

Grants 4,000 600 1,100 500 400 1,400

S106 contributions 1,263 114 1,149 - - - -

School contributions - - - - - - -

Other (please specify) - - - - -

Identified External Capital Funding 5,263 114 1,749 1,100 500 400 1,400

Gap - ECC funding required 3,000 - - 1,500 1,500 - -

Revenue Costs

Furniture & equipment - - - - - - -

Other (please specify) - - - - - - -

Total Revenue costs excl borrowing costs - - - - - - -

Total Project Costs 8,263 114 1,749 2,600 2,000 400 1,400

Estimated cost of borrowing - New - £000s - - 36 162 251 251

Project Financial Statement

5.2. The total SELEP ringfenced grant funding of £4.0m has already been

approved and accepted by the Council. However each grant award has been ringfenced by SELEP against the delivery of each of the specific projects. Funding can only be moved between projects, for example in the case of an underspend, with prior approval. Funding beyond 2016-17 is indicative only and is secured on an annual basis by the SELEP.

5.3. The risk of overspend lies with the Council as the project promoter. The Council will mitigate this though normal risk management processes. There is also scope to manage modest under and overspends across the wider LGF programme subject to SELEP approval. An industry standard contingency has also been included in the construction cost estimates to cover unexpected cost

5.4. Bids to SELEP can be used to cover construction costs; design costs have been and will continue to be drawn from the Council’s Advanced Scheme Design budget. An industry standard contingency has been included in the construction cost estimates to cover unexpected cost increases.

5.5. SELEP has established project governance structures based upon its Accountability Framework and an Accountability Board. These structures will allow local management of budgets and profiles within defined limits and enable more significant changes within the overall SELEP LGF envelope with SELEP Board approval. There is a 10% tolerance on LGF projects on a per project basis in year; however, all changes will have to be informed to the Accountability Board and Government.

5.6. The SELEP LGF funding includes no allowance for compensation claims which may be made by local residents. Such costs would need to be met from Council resources. However, the nature of these schemes means that claims are expected to be minimal; these schemes represent improvements to existing infrastructure or small sustainable schemes with little negative impact on local residents.

5.7. This scheme involves upgrading and improvement of existing transport assets

that will reduce revenue requirements in the short term with regards to maintenance, although these are difficult to quantify at this stage. Additional assets of this type are usually replaced and upgraded via future bids to external funds and the design life of scheme components is reflected in any value for money calculations

6. Legal Implications 6.1. The Council is the Local Transport Authority and the Local Highways

Authority for Essex and therefore has the statutory responsibility and powers necessary to deliver these projects.

6.2. The contract between the Council and Ringway Jacobs allows the direct award of individual projects with a value of under £500k. The A127 Road safety and network resilience package is made up of many smaller packages of work. For individual scheme components with an estimated value of £500,000 or less at instruction, these will be delivered under the Council’s existing partnership arrangements with Ringway Jacobs (RJ). Where the components exceed the limit of the Essex Highways contract, the construction contractor(s) are expected to be procured through the Eastern Highway Alliance Framework or other similar routes.

6.3 This report does not authorise the making of traffic regulation orders. Any

necessary traffic regulation orders will be dealt with under the Council’s usual procedures. It may be necessary to consult with local residents once schemes have reached a final design and any objections which cannot be resolved by officers will be the subject of a report to the Cabinet member.

6.4 It should be noted that the Council bears the risk of any overspend in these

projects. 6.5 The Council is the Accountable Body for the SELEP. Where SELEP funds a

scheme, The Council enters into a funding agreement with the relevant local authority. Where the Council is itself the relevant local authority we may still be required to enter into an agreement with another local authority if required. ECC (as highway authority) cannot enter into a binding agreement with ECC (as accountable body for SELEP).

7. Staffing and other resource implications 7.1. Project management and oversight will make use of existing Council

resources backed up by specialist services provided by Essex Highways.

7.2. If additional staffing levels are required Essex Highways have the ability to ‘reach back’ into their parent organisations (Ringway and Jacobs) to seek additional resource. This facility is already in place and available under the contract with Ringway-Jacobs and is provided by Jacobs. These extra

resources can be brought in without detrimental effect to the main EH delivery programmes.

8. Equality and Diversity implications 8.1 Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 creates the public sector equality duty

which requires that when the Council makes decisions it must have regard to the need to: (a) Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and

other behaviour prohibited by the Act (b) Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected

characteristic and those who do not. (c) Foster good relations between people who share a protected

characteristic and those who do not including tackling prejudice and promoting understanding.

8.2 The protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender and sexual orientation.

8.3 The equality impact assessment indicates that the proposals in this report will not have a disproportionately adverse impact on any people with a particular characteristic.

8.4 Equality implications will be considered at the final design stage of each

scheme and an assessment undertaken

9. List of Appendices

(available at www.essex.gov.uk if not circulated with this report) 9.1. Appendix 1 - DFT Letter

9.2. Appendix 2 - Scheme description (attached below)

9.3. Appendix 3 - Equality Impact Assessment

10. List of Background Papers

Bid documents

Appendix 1

Dear Sirs

A127 Corridor LGF Scheme

As you are aware, Ministers across Whitehall have agreed that a small number of the most

complex and expensive transport projects approved as part of the first round of Growth Deals

should be seen as part of a larger portfolio of schemes, with Department for Transport

Ministers rather than the relevant Local Enterprise Partnerships taking decisions on final

approval. We have informally been calling these ‘retained’ schemes. The A127 Corridor is

one of those schemes.

When we met to discuss your scheme you explained that it involved more than one element.

It was agreed that we would consider how we should deal with this issue in each specific case

on the basis that where there are less expensive elements, we would hope to deem those

elements as “approved” once they have been signed off within the LEP, without further

information being provided to DfT for approval.

I am writing to confirm how we wish to handle the above scheme. We will only retain

approval of the A127 Fairglen Interchange Junction Improvements element. For the

remaining elements of the scheme, funding will be released by DfT to the LEP in the years

required without further assessment. The exact timing of such funding will depend on

delivery dates and will be released when we have confirmation from you that the scheme has

been approved by the LEP and is ready to start. This funding will be subject to your local

assurance process in the same way as the rest of your Local Growth funding. The Department

anticipates that the value for money information relating to individual scheme decisions

would be published in line with the general expectations for transparency set out in the

Paul Mathieson

Southend BC

[email protected]

Alastair Southgate

Essex CC

[email protected]

David Godfrey

SE LEP

[email protected]

Charlie Sunderland

LTFGD Division

Zone 2/15

Great Minster House

33 Horseferry Road

London

SW1P 4DR

Direct Line: 020 7944 8810

GTN No: 7 3533 8810

[email protected]

Web Site: www.dft.gov.uk

13 April 2015

national LEP assurance framework. It would be helpful if you could inform us when this

information is published and/or updated.

The exact amount to be released will be confirmed when you are able to confirm the split of

funding between the two elements of the scheme based on a robust cost estimate. It would

help if you could provide this as soon as possible, or let me have your current estimate of the

split, to be confirmed when detailed costings become available.

For both elements, those that require DfT approval and those that do not, funding will be

provided annually in advance via a Section 31 grant from DfT to the LEPs accountable body.

I would be happy to discuss this with you. I am copying this letter to Iain McNab at BIS and

Lee Sambrook in DfT

Yours

Charlie Sunderland

Appendix 2 - Scheme Description The A127 Capacity Improvements and Network Resilience Package, of which this is the first phase to be funded by SE LEP, include the following components which are detailed in the Appendix:

A127 / A132 Nevendon interchange – capacity improvements to a grade separated junction

A127 / A129 Rayleigh Weir interchange – signals upgrade

A127 / B186 Warley interchange – installation of signals on slip roads

A127 Signing improvements

A127 / A132 Nevendon Interchange Capacity Enhancements

The A127 / A132 Nevendon Interchange is located to the north of Basildon and forms part of a key link to Wickford. The interchange suffers from significant congestion in both am and pm peaks, resulting in queues along the slip roads and on to the main A127 carriageway. The scheme includes:

widening the circulatory carriageway to three lanes on the roundabout under A127

lengthening the north bound merging lanes towards Wickford

closing the access on to the A132 north bound from Christopher Martin Road to remove traffic that currently blocks the north bound flow.

upgrading of the signals on the roundabout to provide optimised capacity during peak periods.

The existing A127 bridges are wide enough to accommodate carriageway widening to three lanes in each direction, between the parapets, subject to final structural approval. The current estimate for this scheme is £2.4m. Section 106 funding of approximately £1.25m is available as match funding for the improvements. Land is required for the widening of the north-bound carriageway. The legal process for this acquisition is programmed to start April / May 2015. It is not envisaged that there will be a requirement for any CPOs. A communications plan is being developed. Early discussions have been held with Basildon Borough Council for support, and outline information has been provided to the Basildon Business Group. It is intended to engage in more detail with these key stakeholders once the initial design has been finalised.

A127 / A129 Rayleigh Weir Interchange – Signals upgrade

The A127 / A129 Rayleigh Weir junction suffers from vehicles on the east-bound exit slip backing up on to the mainline A127. Apart from the volume of traffic, this is mainly caused by the signals at Stadium Way not being linked to the signals at Rayleigh Weir. It is proposed to upgrade both sets of signals and link them with the installation of Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique (SCOOT) to clear queuing traffic that blocks the Weir roundabout.

A127/ B186 Warley Interchange

The A127 / B186 Warley junction suffers from congestion, and is also prone to collisions at the top of the slip roads as traffic leaving the A127 does not have good visibility in either direction of traffic approaching along the B186. In peak periods, traffic queues back-up on to the main A127 causing delays to through traffic, which in turn causes collisions. The cause of queuing traffic is the high level of traffic on the B186 which has priority over the vehicles leaving the A127. The installation of signals at the junction will help regulate the flow of traffic. Queue detectors would be installed along the slip roads, and would be linked to the signals. Should queues be detected, the signals will be triggered and the traffic released. This will reduce the risk of traffic backing up along the A127 mainline and, in turn, reduce the risk of shunt-type collisions.

The junction exit slips can be widened on approach to the signals to provide left and right-turn lanes. This would bring greater efficiency to the junction, and increase traffic flow. The junction area (away from the A127 mainline) will be re-classified to a 40mph limit, to reduce speeds along B186 Warley Street and to assist in the safe operation of the signalised junction. Pedestrian footways will require either constructing or improving, with crossing points and an appropriate on-demand pedestrian phasing at the signals. Signing and road marking in the vicinity of the junction will be improved to increase forewarning of the new junction arrangement. There are areas of environmental concern in the vicinity of this junction, one of which concerns great crested newts, and the other concerns bats. Any new alignment design would require hedgerow and watercourse surveys. This will be taken into consideration during the design stage to minimise any effects on the area.

A127 Strategic Signing Improvements

Strategic Direction Signing

Irregularities have been identified in the signing of traffic to London / M25 on the A127 and primarily in the vicinity of A127 / A130 Rayleigh Spur. Signs require amendment or replacement, in order to show the correct destination on the relevant signs.

Telematic Signs

Additional sites for new telematic variable message signs (VMS) have been identified, in addition to the four existing sites. These locations are at strategic points on the carriageway to allow for effective management of diversion routes and to provide driver information of incidents and journey times. Each VMS typically requires 40m of vehicle restraint system, and approximately 20m² of grasscrete (maintenance purposes) in addition to a dedicated power supply (mini feeder pillar). It is not believed that land purchase will be required for installation of the additional VMS units. It is assumed that there would be up to 20m of statutory undertakers’ plant to be diverted at each location. In conjunction with the ANPR cameras, these VMS units can display journey time information into town. Both the ANPR cameras and the VMS are operated from the Essex Traffic Control Centre (ETCC) in Chelmsford.