RHONDDA CYNON TAF COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL CABINET 23 rd APRIL 2012 REPORT OF THE GROUP DIRECTOR, ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES Author: Nigel Brinn, Service Director Highways Transportation and Strategic Projects. 01443 494861 HIGHWAYS TRANSPORTATION AND STRATEGIC PROJECTS INVESTMENT PROGRAMME 2012/13. 1.0 PURPOSE OF THE REPORT 1.1 The report provides Members with details of the proposed investment programme for; the Capital Programme (Core) for works covering Highways, Structures, Street Lighting, Drainage, Safety Fencing, Minor Works, Traffic Management, the Capital Programme (Core) is significantly enhanced following the decision to provide an additional £3m for highway repairs, the Local Government Borrowing Initiative (LGBI) of £3.68m borrowing for capital investment in our highways network in 2012/13 (with further agreements in place under LGBI for 2013/14 and 2014/15), the Regional Transport Consortia grant funded Road Safety and Transportation schemes, and the Welsh Government directly funded Transport Grant and Safe Routes in Communities funding for 2012/13. 2. 0 RECOMMENDATIONS Members are requested to note the contents of and approve the proposed investment programme for 2012/13 as outlined in the report and subject to WG final confirmation of the Council’s LGBI spending proposals as detailed in paragraph 3.1.2. In particular members are asked to note the following: 2.1 There will be an additional £3m investment in highways infrastructure in 2012/13 Cabinet - 23.04.12 Agenda Item 2 15
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RHONDDA CYNON TAF COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL
CABINET
23rd APRIL 2012 REPORT OF THE GROUP DIRECTOR, ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES Author: Nigel Brinn, Service Director Highways Transportation and
Strategic Projects. 01443 494861 HIGHWAYS TRANSPORTATION AND STRATEGIC PROJECTS INVESTMENT PROGRAMME 2012/13. 1.0 PURPOSE OF THE REPORT 1.1 The report provides Members with details of the proposed investment
programme for;
the Capital Programme (Core) for works covering Highways, Structures, Street Lighting, Drainage, Safety Fencing, Minor Works, Traffic Management,
the Capital Programme (Core) is significantly enhanced following the
decision to provide an additional £3m for highway repairs,
the Local Government Borrowing Initiative (LGBI) of £3.68m borrowing for capital investment in our highways network in 2012/13 (with further agreements in place under LGBI for 2013/14 and 2014/15),
the Regional Transport Consortia grant funded Road Safety and
Transportation schemes, and
the Welsh Government directly funded Transport Grant and Safe Routes in Communities funding for 2012/13.
2. 0 RECOMMENDATIONS
Members are requested to note the contents of and approve the proposed investment programme for 2012/13 as outlined in the report and subject to WG final confirmation of the Council’s LGBI spending proposals as detailed in paragraph 3.1.2. In particular members are asked to note the following:
2.1 There will be an additional £3m investment in highways infrastructure
in 2012/13
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2.2 Prudential borrowing will provide for an additional £3.68m of targeted capital investment in our highways infrastructure via LGBI in 2012/13.
2.3 The existing core capital/revenue programme will provide £1.657m of
investment in our highway infrastructure network. 2.4 The remaining elements of core funded capital/revenue programme will
provide for investment in Road Safety, Land Drainage and Traffic Management.
2.5 The Regional Transport Consortia Grant will provide for £2.251m for
investment in the Pontypridd to Cardiff transport corridor improvement. £1.777m for improvements to elements of the corridor in RCT with the balance allocated to improvements to the route in Cardiff which will be administered via RCT. These include Tongwynlais, Coryton and Parkfield Place (North Road).
2.6 The Regional Transport Consortia Grant will also provide for £0.315m
funding for Capital Road Safety projects together with £0.22m for Road Safety revenue. This funding includes £0.128m for RCT to deliver Pass Plus Cymru on behalf of the Sewta region.
2.7 The Transport Grant will provide for £1.137m of funding to complete
land matters at the Church Village Bypass (£1.117m) and the Porth Relief Road (£0.02m).
2.8 Under the Welsh Governments Safe Routes in Communities initiative
(SRiC), the Council has been awarded £0.051m for Rhydyfelin. 3. 0 BACKGROUND 3.1.1 Following a series of particularly prolonged and cold winter periods the
highway roads network across the UK has suffered significant deterioration. During 2011/12, RCT allocated additional funding to improve the network across the county borough. An additional £5m was approved to repair the winter damage and to implement targeted highway treatments to ensure cost effective future maintenance, together with additional pot holing funding of £2m to tackle the growing number of defects in the carriageways.
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3.1.2 The introduction of LGBI funding initiative allows the Council to borrow
an estimated £11m over the next three years and allows existing investment programmes to be enhanced and additional maintenance programmes to be introduced. The Council has received formal notification of the amount of funding which is to made available to us in 2012/13 (£252k revenue grant to fund £3.68m prudential borrowing) and has submitted proposals to Welsh Government based upon the projects contained in this report. We have not yet, however received formal confirmation from WG of their acceptance of our proposed spending plans and consequently the programme contained herein can only be approved subject to receipt of WG confirmation. Should an amendment to the programme be required then it will, of course, be for Cabinet to agree any changes.
3.1.3 The make up of the Capital Programme (Core) for 2012/13, the
enhancements through additional funding and LGBI are included in the report. In addition, funding recently secured through the Regional Transport Consortia, Sewta (South East Wales Transport Alliance) for Integrated Transport and Road Safety improvements and details of WG Transport Grant and Safe Routes in Communities Grant are also included.
4. 0 CATEGORIES WITHIN THE PROGRAMME 4.1 Minor Repairs 4.1.1 In addition to the Council’s annual revenue budget of £1.2m for
emergency repairs, patching and strengthening repairs to roads an additional £0.900m has been allocated from the 2012/13 allocation to support the programme. This budget is managed by our Highways Network Management team within Streetcare
4.1.2 This work is coordinated via the 10 Street Inspectors who between
them inspect the entire network at predetermined intervals based on the particular category of highway. Repairs are then identified and undertaken as per the inspector’s instruction.
4.2 Carriageway Repairs 4.2.1 Following three very hard winters the Council invested over £10m in its
carriageway and footway infrastructure in, 2011 / 12 and it is proposed to continue and enhance the Councils carriageway improvements programme via a mixture of traditional and specialist surfacing type treatments. Proposed budget allocation £5.3m
4.2.2 A detailed list of all of the proposed scheme locations including nature
and type of repairs for Member approval may be viewed within Appendix 1 of the report.
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4.3 Footway Repairs 4.3.1 The Council has been carrying out a condition survey (FNS) of its
footways in conjunction with Highways Inspectors “safety street inspections” and it is proposed to enhance the Councils present footway repair programme. Proposed budget allocation £0.6m.
4.3.2 A detailed list of all of the proposed scheme locations including may be
viewed within Appendix 2 of the report. 4.4 Highway Structures 4.4.1 Following close monitoring over a number of years, it has become
necessary to carry out extensive repairs to Coed y Cwm bridge which serves as sole access to approximately 420 residential properties. Estimated repair cost £0.7m.
4.4.2 The details for the Highways Structure programme for 12/13 are
provided in Appendix 3 of the report. 4.5 Street Lighting 4.5.1 The Council presently maintains approximately 30,000 streetlights and
illuminated traffic signs. A proportion of the street lighting infrastructure consists of concrete columns and streetlights supplied via two-wire overhead lines (5000 columns). It is proposed to allocate £0.5m of the total budget which would equate to the replacement of approximately 250 columns.
4.5.2 The details for the Street Lighting programme for 2012/13 are provided
in Appendix 4 of the report. 4.6 Safety Fencing & Barriers 4.6.1 Following the results of a survey undertaken to identify the condition of
the Councils safety barriers it is proposed to carry out a programme of repairs and testing. Proposed budget allocation £0.1m.
4.6.2 Improvements will be undertaken on a county-wide basis and will be
associated with known flooding / standing water problems on the highway identified as high risk. Proposed budget allocation £0.2m.
4.7.2 The details for the drainage programme for 2012/13 are provided in
Appendix 5 of the report. 4.8 Land Drainage Improvements 4.8.1 The Capital Land Drainage Programme supports works on land
drainage and flood alleviation schemes to improve the overall flood risk, which are of such scale that their cost, places them outside the framework of routine maintenance, supported by the revenue programmes.
4.8.2 With regard to land drainage (Flood Alleviation) schemes, the Council
is frequently able to benefit from Welsh Government (WG) grant support (85%) as the Land Drainage Authority under Section 59 of the Land Drainage Act 1991 on ordinary watercourses. In support of this process the land drainage capital programme identifies a number of project appraisals targeted at attracting external funding support.
These appraisals will be carried out on a rolling 3-year programme with 2-3 completed per year.
4.8.3 Progression of schemes will be dependent on successful application
for grant from the project appraisal process. However, an allowance has been made within the drainage improvements programme for progression of such schemes in order to provide the match funding required to secure grant.
4.8.4 In addition Mynydd yr Eglwys landslip continues to present a potential
risk and requires ongoing monitoring by specialist geotechnical engineers.
4.8.5 Details for the Drainage Improvements programme (£2.594M) for 12/13
are provided in Appendix 6 of the report. 4.9 Traffic Management 4.9.1 As part of its network management duties under the Highways Act the
Council has the ability to implement improvements to the management of the traffic moving within the County Borough. Finance for the programme is and an allocation of core capital funding from RCTCBC (£0.160m).
4.9.2 The Welsh Government allocates funding via Road Safety Grant. The grant allocation process has changed for 2012/13 and all local authorities must now bid for funding for via their regional transport
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consortium (Sewta). Schemes have been assessed and funding allocated based on the following factors;
casualty reduction collision remediation location; in the vicinity of a school or other community site vehicular speed reduction location; based on community concern, where the local ward
members and local community have raised concerns over safety.
4.9.3 The Council’s own capital allocation will enable the implementation of
small scale schemes and provide safety aids such as warning signs, the introduction of traffic orders and the provision of disabled parking bays.
4.9.4 An element of WG’s Road Safety Grant provides a fixed sum of
revenue funding for Road Safety Education, Training and Publicity. The way in which this grant is allocated has changed this year coupled with a reduction in the overall amount available. The agreed programme for the authority extends to £0.092m and supports initiatives such as Kerbcraft, Children’s Traffic Club, Junior Road Safety officer Club, Walking buses, Cycle Training, Megadrive, and Bike Safe.
4.9.5 WG is also encouraging collaboration within Sewta and two revenue
funding streams for Publicity and Pass Plus Cymru (PPC) have been ring fenced on a regional basis. RCT will take the lead role in administering PPC for Sewta.
4.9.6 The details for the Traffic Management programme for 2012/13 are
provided in Appendix 7 of the report. . 4.10 Regional Transport Consortium Delivery Plan 2012/13 4.10.1 WG has allocated funding to RCT based on the Sewta Regional
Transport Plan and Sewta’s Delivery Plan for 2012/13.
The Council will implement the following project under the category of integrated transport-
Pontypridd to Cardiff bus priority £2.251m 4.10.2 Whilst the total grant for integrated transport is £2.251m, this includes
works within the City and County Council of Cardiff which will be administered by RCT. The actual funding for expenditure within RCT is anticipated to be £1.777m.
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4.10.3 The main focus of this expenditure will be to increase road capacity at key junctions, particularly those that facilitate bus movement. In 2012/13 main improvements will be carried out at the Berw Road/Bridge Street junction in Pontypridd, together with works at the A470 Nantgarw junction.
4.10.4 It should be noted that RTC grant also includes £0.315m of Road Safety Grant.
4.10.5 Successful implementation of the schemes will be dependant upon the
resolution of a number of matters including the granting of all necessary consents and the approval of third parties where necessary.
4.11 Transport Grant and Safe Routes in Communities Grant 4.11.1 Transport Grant funding has been allocated to continue land
negotiations and to settle of Part 1 claims under the Land Compensation Act 1973 for major highways schemes. The allocations comprise of;
Church Village by pass (£1.117m), Porth Relief Road (£0.02m)
4.11.2 Funding in the sum of £0.051m has been allocated for the Rhydyfelin
Safe Route in the Community Scheme. 5.0 CONCLUSION
The Highways Transportation and Strategic Projects service area will oversee significant investment in 2012/13 in a number of important areas. Following on from last years highly successful highways investment programme associated with the repairs of the carriageways, £3m of funding, in addition to the £1.821m capital core funding, has been identified to continue to improve the fabric of the highways network and to deal with the impact of three very hard winters. In addition LGBI allows the Council to access £3.68m of “prudential borrowing” in 2012/13 supported through long term WG revenue funding to cover the cost of borrowing. This initiative will continue over the next two financial years. The Council has been very successful in obtaining funding for transportation projects via Sewta as well as direct WG grant funding as detailed within the report.
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The Council has also once again been successful in obtaining both WG and “convergence” funding associated with land drainage/flood prevention proposals. In total there will be around £15m worth of investment in 2012/13 in a broad range of our important Highways and Transportation services. Members are requested to note that the programme is as always subject to minor changes due to possible engineering difficulties or collaboration issues. Members are asked to adopt the 2012/13 capital programmes for Roads, Highways Structures, Street Lighting, Traffic Management, Transportation, Road Safety, Safe Routes in the Community and Drainage within Rhondda Cynon Taf.