H&E Strategic Direction · it challenging to recruit and retain engineering staff in the face of competition particularly 1 National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme IP Part B: Strategic

INTEGRATED PLAN

PART B - STRATEGIC DIRECTION AND FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES

Highways & Environment Portfolio

Contents

Portfolio on a Page

Section 1: Future Strategic Direction 2021/22 - 2024/25

Key priorities for the portfolio over the period

Key pressures and challenges facing the portfolio

Key projects / programmes that the portfolio will deliver

Benchmarking and other information used in setting Strategic Direction and assessing service outcomes

Key Risks, mitigation and resilience plans

Section 2: Revenue Budget Information

Key Budget Movements: o Technical Adjustments o Exceptional Inflation o Pressures o Savings

Revenue Budget by Objective Area

Section 3: Capital Programme

Highways and Environment Portfolio

Strategic Direction:

Moving Hertfordshire forward by ensuring a safe and

efficient highways system, promoting safe, reliable and

sustainable travel and protecting the physical and

natural environment.

Key services provided:• Develop and implement transport strategies, including

engagement with our customers.

• Deliver core maintenance services to keep the highway

network safe and operational.

• Work in partnership with others to reduce the numbers of

people killed or injured on our roads.

• Undertake statutory network management and development

management functions.

• Improve and promote use of the active travel network

including management of the public Rights of Way network.

• Enable Health Walks 300+ volunteers to lead walks for

residents who are inactive and suffering from long term

health conditions.

• Enhance green infrastructure through delivery of

management plans to secure “environmental net gain.”

Key priorities and programmes:• Publishing and delivering the cross-Council Sustainable

Hertfordshire Strategy.

• Seek continuous improvement of the Highways Service

through the forthcoming re-procurement of the main

Highways contracts.

• Sustain top tier performance for DfT Maintenance

Incentive Funding.

• Support the growth agenda by taking forward a

Highways & Transport Infrastructure programme,

including the A120 Little Hadham Bypass, emerging

strategies for Hemel East, Stevenage and the A414

corridor.

• Introduce 20mph areas where they are viable,

affordable and in line with the Speed Management

Strategy.

• Enhance the physical and natural environment of

Hertfordshire through Countryside Management

services. Volunteering Opportunities, Rights of Way

improvement and Health Walks.

• In response to climate change and more severe rainfall

events to increase the drainage programme to reduce

incidents of flooding.

Key risks in achieving IP proposals• Local construction inflation impacting on the sustainability of

the Highways contracts.

• Inability to keep pace with customer expectations around

sustainability (including active travel and drainage works),

due to insufficient resources.

• Staff shortages due to the buoyant construction industry and

the influence of London.

• The size and scale of growth and pace of development, key

projects and ability to respond to these.

• Threat to trees from pests and diseases - including the cost

and disruption of dealing with these.

• Managing an ageing asset, (e.g. lighting columns, sign

posts, traffic signals, drainage infrastructure) and associated

increases in reactive maintenance. 165

Highways and Environment Portfolio

Key Capital Schemes:• Programmes of structural maintenance and

Integrated Transport Improvements

• Major Capital Projects such as Little Hadham

bypass, Essex Road and converting lights to LED &

CMS

• Active Travel infrastructure management &

improvement (Public Rights of Way and other

access facilities)

Key Revenue Pressures:• Demographic pressures from traffic growth,

changes in travel patterns and modes and the

construction of new roads associated with the drive

for economic growth and housing.

• Increased demand for travel, despite the

improvements in technology enabling “smarter”

working.

Key Revenue Savings Proposals:• LED Street Lighting continuing to deliver cost

avoidance in terms of energy costs.

• Increasing income in relation to the New Roads and

Street Works Act and Development Management.

Capital Programme

2021/22

£m

2022/23

£m

2023/24

£m

2024/25

£m

94.897 89.580 86.408 85.691

Summary Revenue Budget Movements

2021/22

£m

2022/23

£m

2023/24

£m

2024/25

£m

Service Specific Inflation 0.62 1.64 2.59 3.39

Demography 0.03 0.06 0.09 0.09

Legislative (0.06) (0.21) (0.21) (0.21)

Other Pressures 0.64 1.22 0.73 0.96

TOTAL PRESSURES 0.61 1.07 0.61 0.84

Existing Efficiencies (0.15) (0.21) (0.28) (0.28)

Existing Policy Choice (0.15) (0.15) (0.15) (0.15)

TOTAL SAVINGS (0.30) (0.36) (0.43) (0.43)

44.000

46.000

48.000

50.000

52.000

2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2023/24

£m H&E Net Revenue Budget

166

Highways and Environment Portfolio: Future Strategic Direction 1 What are the key priorities for the portfolio over the period 2021/22 – 2024/25?

The key priorities of the services in this portfolio are to ensure an:

• Efficient Highway system that delivers safe, reliable journeys, sustainably.

• Environment that supports biodiversity, access for all, and contributes to overall quality of life including health and wellbeing; and

It will do this by:

• Coordinating the delivery of the Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy, delivering on the nine central ambitions to achieve the organisations sustainability and environmental goals. This includes the publication and delivery of the Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy Action Plan, which outlines how the Council plans to deliver on its ambitions. This comprises the delivery of multiple work programmes like reducing carbon emissions across the council estate, improving the county’s biodiversity levels, coordinating collaboration opportunities with our Local Authority partners and preparing our services to meet future environmental challenges.

• Increasing the drainage programme to reduce incidents of flooding, in response to climate change and more severe rainfall events.

• Developing and implementing transport strategies to support the Local Transport Plan (LTP) and, in particular, the economic and housing growth agenda.

• Delivering a core highway service, which is determined and funded strategically, based upon need. Overall technical strategies and programmes will be delivered using the most appropriate current best practice and economies of scale. Reactive and responsive works will be related to safety or asset protection and planned schemes will be delivered to achieve maximum effectiveness and efficiency.

• Supporting elected Members in taking decisions, within the overall policy framework, which affect their local area including discretionary Highway Locality Budget funded work.

• Improving the customer journey, doing what we say we’ll do and enabling them to better understand what services we do and do not deliver, and the standards we work to.

• Enabling the effective and efficient movement of people and goods through robust network management.

• Minimising the draw on County Council resources by securing alternative funding sources and optimising income.

• Delivering Local Transport Plan, Health and Environmental Strategies by increasing and promoting increased use of cycling and walking infrastructure (including Rights of Way, access network and partner Greenspace, and delivery of new cycling infrastructure).

IP Part B: Strategic Direction - Highways & Environment Portfolio 167

• Continuing development of a collaborative safe systems approach through the multi-agency Hertfordshire Road Safety Partnership in order to reduce the number and severity of collisions, casualties, costs and concerns.

• Supporting mode shift and alternatives to car-based travel through increased cycle training for adults and children, development and maintenance of travel plans, education and promotion of cycling and walking infrastructure.

• Continuing to support and deliver an efficient and effective School Crossing Patrol Service to encourage adults and children to undertake daily physical activity and walk safely to school.

• Continuing to deliver the full suite of NDORS1 driver offender retraining courses on behalf of Hertfordshire Constabulary and expanding the range of courses delivered in line with strategic priorities.

• Enhancing publicly owned green infrastructure through production and delivery of appropriately funded management plans to deliver “environmental net gain” (as set out in the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan) including multiple benefits for people and wildlife; this to include local authority green space, access network, redundant railway lines and the HCC owned woodlands forming part of the National Nature Reserve.

• Continuing to engage volunteers in the management of the Rights of Way network, greenspace improvement and Health Walks initiative; securing approximately one-third of HCC volunteering activity.

• Delivering Hertfordshire Health Walks to enable the least active of the county’s residents and those living with long-term health conditions to participate in volunteer led walking for the benefit of their health.

2 What are the key pressures and challenges facing your portfolio for 2021/22 –

2024/25?

The main demographic changes come about from traffic growth, changes in travel patterns and modes and the construction of new roads associated with economic growth and housing. The growth will increase the demand for travel, despite the improvements in technology enabling “smarter” working. The challenge will be to meet those pressures without adversely changing the character of the county. Technology will assist by:

• Enabling greater accessibility to and from customers who want a more interactive, responsive service and self-help.

• Enabling services to improve their communications, processes and design efficiency

• The revolution in transport technology enabling ‘Mobility as a Service’ and autonomous, electric vehicles.

As the investment in national infrastructure projects continues, the Highways service finds it challenging to recruit and retain engineering staff in the face of competition particularly

1 National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme


from London. Similarly, the impact of major national infrastructure projects, a weak pound and green taxes are increasing costs.

The impact on traffic flow through current traffic growth and the 70-80,000 authorised highway activities per year, is moderated by pro-active network management that keeps traffic moving as efficiently as possible and provides multi-media real time information. The key challenge is that the growth in capital investment in infrastructure is not mirrored by the growth in revenue needed to develop and maintain infrastructure and to support the day to day service delivery.

Predicted growth in traffic volumes combined with an increase in vulnerable road users (more people choosing to walk and cycle) could lead to increases in the number of casualties on Hertfordshire’s roads.

A key challenge arising from the predicted economic and housing growth will be to ensure that the “environmental net gain” set out in the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan (January 2018) is achieved and the people living and working in Hertfordshire benefit from it. Securing developer contributions to “place shaping” alongside competing Social and Economic objectives will be key.

A further key pressure is the significant investment required by Hertfordshire County Council to deliver the Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy and the various infrastructure developments required to enable the delivery of the key works programmes identified as part of the Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy Action Plan.

3 What are the key projects/programmes that the portfolio will deliver 2021/22 –

2024/25?

• Coordinating the delivery and implementation of the cross-Council Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy.

• Coordinating publication and delivery of the cross-Council Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy Action Plan.

• Coordinating Hertfordshire County Council’s contributions to the Hertfordshire Climate Change & Sustainability Partnership and Officers Group.

• Ensure that the customer journey is simple, efficient and effective through improved processes and systems, supported by comprehensive staff training.

• Design and procure new service delivery arrangements to replace the current Highways Service Term (HST) Contract and Client Service Term (CST) contracts to ensure continuity of service beyond September 2024.

• Continue to deliver value for money changes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the highways service.

• Improve the condition of unclassified roads through the i2i programme, aimed at halving the number of those roads needing treatment.

• Introduce 20mph areas where they are viable, affordable, and in line with the Speed Management Strategy.


• Make best use of the ‘Highways Together’ schemes, which are aimed at enabling Town and Parish Councils to undertake non-statutory local maintenance (e.g. to clean village signs), whilst making the best use of volunteers and other resources such as the probation service.

• Maintain the serviceability of the highway by achieving the best possible balance of statutory duty and annual Routine Maintenance campaigns and increase the number of drainage works on the highway.

• Sustain top tier performance for Department for Transport (DfT) Maintenance Incentive Funding and ensure that our asset management approach builds on best practice from ‘Well Maintained Highway Infrastructure’.

• Support the growth agenda by: o Delivering A120 Little Hadham Bypass; Essex Road, A10 Roundabout at

Buntingford and A602 Stevenage to Ware improvements o Translating emerging strategies for Hemel East and the Enterprise Zone,

Stevenage and A414 corridor into defined projects for delivery post 2021 o Producing the LTP Delivery Programme to capture all of the medium

sized and major projects, which will enable HCC to: ▪ Deploy resources more effectively;

▪ Give clarity to potential partners about HCC’s role;

▪ Chase funding opportunities to deliver HCC’s priorities.

o Developing a portfolio of business cases for medium sized projects. o Re-focusing DfT’s ITP Block Allocation towards delivering medium sized

projects.

• Consider options for further dimming strategies to burn less carbon and ‘greening’ of verge maintenance service through Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy Highways Action Plan (funding dependant).

• Develop a carbon calculator, to support Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy Highways Action Plan, to enable the ‘carbon cost’ of structural maintenance of the highway to be considered alongside value for money

• Introduce Highways Resilience strategies and schemes, which will reduce the amount of highway maintenance operations.

• Facilitate, manage and lead the multi-agency Road Safety Partnership by developing an evidence led strategy and safe systems model.

• Continue to work closely with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to provide oversight and administration of his road safety fund in order to add value to HCC priorities.

• Influence the planning, design and promotion of schemes to encourage more walking and cycling, particularly for short journeys, in line with a refreshed active travel strategy.

• Enable growth and LTP4 travel mode shift through investment of internal and external funds including those secured through the planning system and other sources, in priority elements of the 3,000km Rights of Way and access network.

• Maintain and develop relationships to enable cost efficient improvement of Hertfordshire’s environment and community involvement/volunteering.


• In 2017 it was agreed that additional funds (£37 million across five years) be spent on local roads maintenance. This additional funding was specifically targeted at unclassified roads that are in, or close to, poor condition. Measurement of road condition is based on the percentage where maintenance should be considered, so a lower number is better, and the measure can broadly be thought of as the percentage of the road network that is in ‘poor’ condition. The additional funding has been used to improve unclassified roads and the latest data for 2019/20 shows that the project has met its target earlier than anticipated. In 2016/17 the percentage of unclassified Hertfordshire roads where maintenance should be considered was 16%, and that indicator has now reduced to 7%. The IP includes £4m of funding in 2021/22 for the i2i programme to continue to improve local roads.

4 How has the portfolio reviewed its effectiveness / value for money in delivering service outcomes?

The Highways service maintains 5,100 km (3,169 miles) of carriageways. The gross replacement cost of this network would be approximately £6 billion. To maintain this network, the service undertakes reactive and planned carriageway maintenance through the following categories of work, as laid out below.

Category Purpose Typical Work Types

Cat 1 Safety Focus

Reactive service. Keep the network safe and ensure HCC discharges its legal duties in a robust and efficient way

Fixing potholes and other urgent defects

Cat 2 Serviceability

Focus

Planned preventative maintenance and repairs. Keep the network serviceable, prevent Cat 1 defects forming and defer the need for Cat 4 work.

Localised patching works and joint sealing to fix specific localised defects or areas of deterioration.

Cat 4 Prevention

Focus

Planned preventative maintenance and planned renewals. Keep the network serviceable, prevent Cat 1 defects and deliver best value by focusing on long term benefits and whole life costs of options.

Large scheme-type works and, where possible, developed and delivered as work streams in order to get economies of scale.

Cat 6 Serviceability

Focus

Client-led campaigns, guidance from maintenance communities with maintenance themes and activities identified by the HST contractor.

Patching/resurfacing. Dealing with emerging issues e.g. winter recovery, and planned campaigns such as crack and joint sealing.


Service levels for ‘Cat 1’ work on the Highways compare favourably to other councils. The below tables provide a comparison of both for the pothole depths that trigger an intervention levels, and for the quickest response times that each authority offers for the most severe of pothole defects.

Authority Pothole depth triggering intervention

Norfolk CC 40mm

Peterborough UA 40mm

Southend UA 40mm

Cambridgeshire CC 40mm (On cycle routes)

50mm (On other routes)

Hertfordshire CC 40mm (On cycle lanes)

50mm (On other routes)

Essex CC 50mm

Luton UA 50mm

Central Beds UA 50mm

Thurrock UA 50mm

Suffolk CC 50mm

Authority

Quickest response time (For most severe pothole defects)

Norfolk CC 2 hours

Peterborough UA 2 hours

Suffolk CC 2 hours

Southend UA 2 hours

Essex CC 2 hours

Central Beds UA 2 hours

Thurrock UA 2 hours

Hertfordshire CC 24 hours

Luton UA 24 hours

Cambridgeshire CC 36 hours

Norfolk CC 2 hours

It is worth noting that although Hertfordshire’s quickest pothole response time is 24 hours, this applies only to potholes of 50mm (40mm where it’s on a designated cycle route on the road) or greater depth on classified roads (A, B and C roads), where there are chunks of loose material on the road about the size of a tennis ball. The majority of Cat 1 pothole defects are on Unclassified roads and fall within a 5 to 20 working day repair timeframe. Value for money is optimised in the delivery of the Highways Service by:

• Taking a risk-based approach to service levels across all services.

• Adopting strategic, rather than micro-financial management.

• Investing in programme planning and co-ordination.

• Bulking like-activities into countywide work streams.


• Removing inter-organisational boundaries within the Whole Client Service.

• Streamlining the design process through the use of ‘walk and build.’

• Maintaining competitive tension between contractors.

• Promoting channel shift and the local member community leadership role. The Highways service operates from the principle that preventing defects from occurring is cheaper than addressing them later on. In simplified terms, it aims to reduce the amount of reactive Cat 1 repairs (i.e. filling potholes) by making use of the preventative treatments available in Cat 4 (i.e. surface dressing, micro asphalt). This is because preventative treatments in particular are relatively cheap. A surface dressing costs approximately £4/m2 and a microasphalt costs approximately £8/m2, with each extending the carriageway’s service life by approximately 10 years. In contrast, renewal options are more expensive, with a resurfacing costing £22/m2

and having an expected life of up to 20 years, while the ‘do nothing’ option (i.e. continue to perform reactive repairs) sees Cat 1 costs balloon as the road surface deteriorates.

The Highway Service is working on two initiatives below, both of which are focused on driving Value for Money in the service, including (but not limited to) Cat 1 works:

• Building a predictive model for reactive repairs – The service is working with the Business Intelligence Team to explore the possibility of predicting reactive interventions on the network before they occur. This involves taking datasets on all the possible variables that could determine the occurrence of a pothole, i.e. surface type, drainage conditions, traffic levels etc., and determining the causality between each variable and the occurrence of a pothole in a particular road section. It is an experimental piece of work that may not return significant results, but if successful, would be the next step in enhancing the planning of workloads at a service level, and at a granular level intervene on the network before the need for a reactive repair arises.

• Comprehensive Value for Money assessment of the service – The service engaged Proving Services Ltd to undertake a comprehensive value for money assessment of the service. This included an all-day workshop, attended by Councillor Bibby and senior Highways officers from HCC, WSP and Ringway, which identified a number of areas for further evolution to work more efficiently and to increase its strategic value. One of the assessment conclusions was that overall the service “compares reasonably well to its peer group”. The recommendations from the assessment were presented to the Highways and Environment Cabinet Panel in September 2020. An action plan is now being drawn up for implementation.


HCC has nearly halved the number of classified (A, B and C roads) roads in ‘poor’ condition over the past five years.

Levels of Road Traffic casualties continue to fall, and E&I officers continue to work in Partnership with other agencies to reduce even further.

There is no national comparative data available for the Countryside & Rights of Way Service (CRoW). However, local data shows that over 77% of our Rights of Way were assessed as easy to use (average over the previous 3 years is 75%). CRoW has increased the opportunities for volunteers to deliver surveying, maintenance and development of the Rights of Way network and will continue to innovate in this area.

Levels of participation in the Hertfordshire Health Walks initiative continues to grow above target until their suspension in the light of Covid19 Lockdown and the following restrictions. The initiative has been identified to be the largest and best value scheme in the country following simple benchmarking at a national level (number of participants and cost per participant).

Q3 18/19 Q4 18/19 Q1 19/20 Q2 19/20 Q3 19/20 Q4 19/20 Q1 20/21

Herts 444 421 422 416 420 434 377

340

360

380

400

420

440

460

Nu

mb

er

of

KSI

s

Total Killed or seriously injured as a result of road traffic collision

Q418/19

Q119/20

Q219/20

Q319/20

Q419/20

Q120/21

Q220/21

Actual 17727 16275 17776 15428 15121 0 177

Target 14000 15000 15000 15000 15000 15000 15000

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

20000

No

. of

Par

tici

pan

ts

Attendance on walks


5 What are the key risks in delivering projects and programmes for this portfolio, and what mitigations are in place? What steps are being taken to ensure resilience?

The major risks to delivery are:

• How long the Covid19 pandemic continues, and how that affects construction and ways of working.

• Managing customer expectations.

• The impacts of climate change.

• Hertfordshire’s chalk geology leads to the particular risk of highway collapse due to swallow holes or the historical sinking of chalk pits.

• Local construction inflation.

• Coal tar which must be treated as hazardous waste.

• Staff shortages due to the buoyant construction industry and the influence of London.

• Securing developer contributions to enhance the aspects of Hertfordshire’s environment that are its characteristics of place – trees and greenspace, walking and cycling infrastructure.

• Costs associated with managing the impacts of tree health issues including Chalara Ash Dieback.

The service will interact with customers through new web pages and the use of new media and improve the quality and reliability of communication through the integration of HCC and Ringway Communications and training of Customer Service Centre staff. The service structure, levels of service, affordability and efficiencies are consistently under review, in order to forge a sustainable service for the future and try to counter inflation. However, if the inflation costs dwarf the efficiency savings then service reductions may need to be considered.

HCC works in partnership with Hertfordshire Constabulary to deliver the full suite of driver offender retraining courses. A new Memorandum of Understanding has been signed continuing this arrangement until at least 2023. Furthermore, the driver training team have diversified and increased the number of new courses they deliver including minibus and banksman training.

For CRoW, working with key customers and improved technological solutions including through new web pages and channel shift for RoW fault reporting will help to improve customer relations. Developing strategies which include growing our own staff through reframing of posts into trainee positions and developing cross team knowledge and awareness can offset some recruitment issues. Collaboration with Herts Highways Development and Growth & Infrastructure Teams to secure “environmental net gain” from development including enabling modal shift to active travel through asset enhancement – the inclusion of Public Rights of Way design guidance in the new Roads in Herts web information will be key to this. In relation to the Sustainable Hertfordshire Strategy, the major risks to delivery are:

• The impact of climate change on our environment and services.


• Residential engagement and business engagement.

• Support / buy in from other local authorities.

• Sufficient, qualified staff and resources to undertake the feasibility studies and implement the actions identified.

• Sufficient resources to invest and deliver projects and programmes.

• Sufficient supply chains, industry capacity and skill to deliver the required infrastructure.

These risks to Sustainable Hertfordshire are being mitigated through the following actions:

• The Sustainable Hertfordshire Team has played a critical role in establishing and coordinating the Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership. This is the central body for delivering joint sustainability work programmes in Hertfordshire, with Local Authorities working together to identify shared opportunities for delivering sustainability projects across the county.

• Working is underway to develop an intelligence network within the council, establishing baseline figures for sustainability standards in the Council and across the wider community. This information will influence the development of work programmes and prepare the Council to meet future environmental challenges.


KEY BUDGET MOVEMENTS 2021/22 - 2024/25

2021/22

TOTAL

£000s

2022/23

TOTAL

£000s

2023/24

TOTAL

£000s

2024/25

TOTAL

£000s

615 1,639 2,587 3,389

31 61 91 91

(63) (213) (213) (213)

642 1,217 729 958

610 1,065 607 836

(150) (210) (280) (280)

(150) (150) (150) (150)

(300) (360) (430) (430)

Ref Description DeptType of budget

movement

2021/22

TOTAL

£000s

2022/23

TOTAL

£000s

2023/24

TOTAL

£000s

2024/25

TOTAL

£000s

Approximate

current

budget

£'000

Service Specific Inflation

SSE10 Highways - Client Support Term Contract (CST) E&IService Specific

Inflation210 472 708 903 -

SSE11 Highways - Highways Service Term Contract (HST) E&IService Specific

Inflation367 1,096 1,772 2,342 -

SSI5 Countryside, Rights of Way - Local Authority Income E&IService Specific

Inflation4 61 92 124 -

SSI8 Highways - NRSWA - Permits E&IService Specific

Inflation5 10 15 20 -

SSI9 Highways - NRSWA - Fees - Advertising / Applications E&IService Specific

Inflation29 0 0 0 -

Pressures

D6

Road length increases - routine maintenance - Additional budget is required to finance the

extra maintenance requirements due to increased road adoptions for new residential and

commercial developments.

E&I Demography 31 61 91 91 20,881

L5

Countryside & Rights of Way - Commons Applications

- As the Commons Registration Authority HCC has a statutary duty to process commons

registration applications. There are strict deadlines associated with these apploications.

Decisions taken may be appealed by either the applicant or the land owner through

Judicial Review.

E&I Legislative - (150) (150) (150) 547

L6

New DFT IT system for managing roadworks and streetworks to replace the existing

systems. - New DFT IT system for managing roadworks and streetworks to replace the

existing systems.

E&I Legislative (63) (63) (63) (63) 1,693

OP10Procurement of New Highways Contracts - Internal and external resources required to

procure new Highways Service contracts for 2024E&I Other Pressures 336 612 423 423 46,024

Legislative

Service Specific Inflation

Demography

TOTAL SAVINGS

Other Pressures

TOTAL PRESSURES

Existing Efficiencies

Existing Policy Choice


Ref Description DeptType of budget

movement

2021/22

TOTAL

£000s

2022/23

TOTAL

£000s

2023/24

TOTAL

£000s

2024/25

TOTAL

£000s

Approximate

current

budget

£'000

OP11

Revenue Impact of Capital bid - A120 Little Hadham Bypass and Flood Alleviation

Scheme - Operational and maintenance costs including signals, pumps, lighting and

swales starting 21/22

E&I Other Pressures 35 35 35 35 20,881

OP12

County Travel Survey - A comprehensive travel survey is carried out every three years so

that the county can identify changing needs and trends for its services and react

accordingly

E&I Other Pressures 50 - - - 1,693

OP32Hertsmere Grass Cutting Plant Storage Facility - Increased storage requirments to deliver

grass cutting in HertsmereE&I Other Pressures - 120 50 50 20,881

OP39 Drainage – Gullies - Funding to support additional gully maintenance work E&I Other Pressures (229) - (229) - 20,881

OP8Winter Pressure - The additional budget required has been calculated on the 5 year

average of actual winter costsE&I Other Pressures 300 300 300 300 3,841

OP14

Highways programme management system (PMnet) replacement - ICT Security have

identified vulnerabilities of the Highways Programme management system PMNet. Whilst

short-term action is taken to move the application from the HCC Network, discovery has

identified that the system is unsustainable in the medium to long term. Highways therefore

will need to discover and procure a replacement system. If not, we will be liable for

ongoing cloud costs.


OP105

Highways Correspondance - The highways service receives a disproportionately high

amount of correspondence (from a range of stakeholders) compared to other services

within the council. Additional resource is required within the Customer Journey Team to

ensure this is managed appropriately.


Savings

EE24Highways - New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA) review - Increased income

generation through expansion of the service and review of current charges for licences.E&I

Existing

Efficiencies(100) (160) (230) (230) 1,693

EE25Highways – Development Management cost recovery - Review of Highways costs being

charged to developers.E&I

Existing

Efficiencies(50) (50) (50) (50) 1,693

EPC2Revenue impact of the LED Street Lighting – Phase 4 - Revenue impact of the LED Street

Lighting – Phase 4E&I

Existing Policy

Choice(150) (150) (150) (150) 5,800


Net Budget

2020/21

£'000

Objective Area

Gross

Budget

2021/22

£'000

Income

£'000

Net Budget

2021/22

£'000

Net Budget

2022/23

£'000

Net Budget

2023/24

£'000

Net Budget

2024/25

£'000

Environment & Infrastructure

Structural Maintenance

4,124This primarily consists of works which slow the rate of highway deterioration caused by wear and tear or extreme

weather4,459 (131) 4,328 4,321 4,344 4,391

Routine Maintenance

21,100This area covers work of a cyclical nature required to maintain highways in a serviceable and operational

condition, such as grass cutting, emptying gullies, keeping signals operational and sign cleaning.22,008 (531) 21,477 22,471 22,763 23,426

Winter Maintenance

3,769

Aimed at keeping roads and footpaths open and as safe as possible during periods of severe cold winter

weather, most of the budget is spent on precautionary salting but provision is also made for the emergency

clearance of snow and ice.

4,123 - 4,123 4,221 4,297 4,366

Lighting

6,145This budget covers the regular maintenance and energy costs of all aspects of road lighting – lit signs and

bollards as well as the county’s 100,000 plus street lights.6,237 (130) 6,107 6,231 6,401 6,580

Traffic Management and Safety

3,778

The primary aim of this budget is to reduce road accident casualties and improve movement. This means

addressing the issues of safety, ease of movement and environmental concerns of all road users - motorists,

pedestrians, cyclists and those affected by, or living alongside, roads.

5,827 (1,938) 3,889 3,896 3,887 3,910

Environmental Management

1,734

The group works with other organisations, notably district and parish councils, the business community and the

voluntary sector, on environmental issues. Areas covered include Countryside Management and Rights of Way.

Includes Sustainable Herts

2,315 (275) 2,040 1,945 1,853 1,760

Transport Planning Policy and Strategy

4,789

This budget is concerned with the development and monitoring of transport policies providing the basis for bids

made to government and other external funding sources and the development of transportation plans. It is also

the place where the charges made to utilities under the New Roads and Street Works Act and Traffic

Management Act to reduce congestion are managed.

9,846 (4,991) 4,855 4,878 4,930 5,101

Advance Preparation and Consultation

1,755The department has a medium term programme of projects which are in preparation. Part of this development

work requires close working with local communities and consulting widely on all transportation schemes.1,795 - 1,795 1,833 1,818 1,823

47,194 Highways & Environment Total 56,610 (7,996) 48,614 49,796 50,293 51,357

ANALYSIS OF REVENUE BUDGET BY OBJECTIVE AREAS


Highways and Environment Capital Programme 2021/22-2024/25

The total capital programme 2021/22 to 2024/25 for the portfolio is £356.576m and for 2021/22 is £94.897m. This includes all new bids and re-programming from 2020/21 at the end of quarter 2.

2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Total

£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000

HCC funding 55,741 49,039 48,389 50,090 203,259

Grant 33,515 34,513 31,983 32,551 132,562

Contributions 5,641 6,028 6,036 3,050 20,755

Total 94,897 89,580 86,408 85,691 356,576

New capital bids The portfolio has five new bids compared to the previous Integrated Plan as shown in the table below

Scheme Cost

2021/22

HCC funding 2021/22

Other funding 2021/22

Total cost

2021/22-2024/25

Total HCC

funding 2021/22-2024/25

Total other

funding 2021/22- 2024/25

Description

£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000

Sustainable Hertfordshire Fund

2,000 2,000 - 10,000 10,000 -

Central fund to support services in delivering pilot projects to achieve the sustainability agenda.

Highways Maintenance Covid pressure

1,260 1,260 - 1,260 1,260 -

To manage additional costs associated with Covid-19 to ensure that agreed outcomes can be delivered.

20 mph areas 1,000 1,000 - 7,000 7,000 - Fund to support the implementation of 20mph areas.

Active Travel 2,000 2,000 - 3,000 3,000 -

Measures to create an environment that promotes both walking and cycling in line with the Local Transport Plan (LTP4) and Sustainability Strategy.

Climate Change Response

1,500 1,500 - 10,000 10,000 -

To provide additional capital funding to improve drainage in response to highways flooding brought about by increasing and changing rainfall patterns.

Total 7,760 7,760 - 31,260 31,260 -


Revised capital bids - annual programmes The following annual programmes have been revised.

Scheme

Total increase/

(decrease) 2021/22

HCC funding

increase/ (decrease)

2021/22

Other funding


2021/22

Total increase/

(decrease) 2021/22 to

2024/25

HCC funding

increase/ (decrease) 2021/22 to

2024/25

Other funding


2024/25

Reason

£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000

Safety Barriers 1,050 1,050 - 4,200 4,200 -

A continuation of the 2020/21 programme to replace and refurbish the safety barrier infrastructure across Hertfordshire’s highway, following a service condition inspection of the un-tensioned safety barrier asset base.

Street Lighting Refurbishment Programme

3,144 3,144 - 12,576 12,576 -

A continuation of the increased level of investment in the 2020/21 IP which reflected the outcomes from structural testing of the current asset base.

Street Lighting Private Cable Network Refurbishment

82 82 - 1,078 1,078 -

Ongoing investment to replace the existing private cable network with new cabling, which will reduce the number of faults affecting significant sections of existing cabling.

Traffic Signals Refurbishment / Replacement

1,312 1,312 - 5,248 5,248 -

A continuation of the increased level of investment in the 2020/21 IP, reflecting the optimised level of investment required to maintain a steady state condition of the asset and deliver best value for money

Highways maintenance

750 (8,250) 9,000 2,125 (34,443) 36,568

An anticipated increase in grant funding of £9m per annum has been reflected in the programme. There is an overall increase of £2.125m over the IP, which relates to the need to replenish the budget following reprogramming of


Scheme

Total increase/

(decrease) 2021/22

HCC funding


2021/22

Other funding


2021/22

Total increase/


2024/25

HCC funding


2024/25

Other funding


2024/25

Reason

£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000

£750k to 2020/21 to fund covid-pressures and an allowance for inflation in 2024/25.

Bridge Asset management and maintenance service

- - - 194 194 - An increase in 2024/25 to allow for inflation

Integrated Transport Projects (ITP)

1,142 - 1,142 723 - 723

The budget has been brought in line with available funding. This includes an additional £5.161m of Active Travel Fund (ATF) grant, awarded to the Council in 2020/21 for capital schemes that support cycling and walking. This is offset by a reduction in S106 anticipated to be available to support schemes.

Total 7,480 (2,662) 10,142 26,144 (11,147) 37,291

Updated bids for vehicle replacement programmes are also included in the portfolio capital programme. Spend on these annual programmes are variable, dependent on the use of the asset and assessment of need and risk. Revised Capital Bids - Projects The portfolio has revised five capital bids since the 2020/21 IP. These are set out in the table below:

Scheme

Total increase/

(decrease) 2021/22

HCC funding


2021/22

Other funding


2021/22

Total increase/


2024/25

HCC funding


2024/25

Other funding


2024/25

Reason

£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000

A120 Bypass (Little Hadham) and Flood Alleviation Scheme

1,000 - 1,000 1,000 - 1,000

Additional costs anticipated in 2021/22 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, adverse weather events and unforeseen ground conditions.

A602 Improvements Stevenage to/from Ware

500 - 500 1,000 - 1,000

Increase reflects additional costs for delivering cycling facilities as part of the scheme.

A10 Buntingford South Roundabout

- - - 671 - 671 £671k increase based on latest cost estimates for delivering the


Scheme

Total increase/

(decrease) 2021/22

HCC funding


2021/22

Other funding


2021/22

Total increase/


2024/25

HCC funding


2024/25

Other funding


2024/25

Reason

£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000

scheme. Scheme is subject to external funding being secured for the scheme.

A414 Scheme development - - - 664 - 664

An overall increase of £664k over the life of the scheme based on latest cost estimates. Bids for external funding to support the scheme will be submitted once the business case has been approved.

Carriageway maintenance - improving local roads

(4,000) (4,000) - (8,000) (8,000) -

Funding has been re-allocated to support new capital schemes as the project has met its target earlier than anticipated.

Total (2,500) (4,000) 1,500 (4,665) (8,000) 3,335

Carriageway maintenance - improving local roads In 2017 it was agreed that additional funds (£37 million across five years) be spent on local roads maintenance. This additional funding was specifically targeted at unclassified roads that are in, or close to, poor condition. Measurement of road condition is based on the percentage where maintenance should be considered, so a lower number is better and the measure can broadly be thought of as the percentage of the road network that is in ‘poor’ condition. The additional funding has been used to improve unclassified roads and the latest data for 2019/20 shows that the project has met its target earlier than anticipated. In 2016/17 the percentage of unclassified Hertfordshire roads where maintenance should be considered was 16%, and that indicator has now reduced to 7%. The IP includes £4m of funding in 2021/22 and 2022/23 for the i2i programme to continue to improve local roads, but with the target already met, some of the original funding is being reallocated to contribute to new initiatives on sustainability, improving drainage, the introduction of 20mph areas and increased maintenance on active travel routes.

Risks The Maintenance of the Highway asset to prolong serviceable life and the Integrated Transport Projects allocations are based on assumed grant figures from DfT, which have yet to be confirmed.

The maintenance allocation from DfT is also based on HCC retaining its level 3 status within the Incentive Fund. Inflation remains a risk, particularly for major projects.


Highways and Environment Portfolio Capital Programme 2021/22 - 2024/25

Ref Description

New (N), existing (E), revised (R), re-profiled (P)

Directorate

Total scheme

cost

Cost 2021/22

HCC funding 2021/22

Grants 2021/22

Contributions 2021/22

Cost 2022/23

Cost 2023/24

Cost 2024/25

£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

H1

Sustainable Hertfordshire Fund (N): To support HCC’s delivery of the Sustainable Hertfordshire strategy, its nine central ambitions and the delivery of the Sustainable Hertfordshire Action Plan. Funding will be allocated to services for approved schemes that meet these objectives.

Environment &

Infrastructure 10,000 2,000 2,000 - - 1,000 3,500 3,500

H2

20 mph areas (N): In line with the Council’s speed management strategy, this Capital fund will support the implementation of 20mph areas.

Environment &

Infrastructure 7,000 1,000 1,000 - - 1,000 2,000 3,000

H3

Active Travel (N): Maintenance activities to create an environment that promotes both walking and cycling, in line with the objectives in the Local Transport Plan (LTP4) and Sustainability Strategy.

Environment &

Infrastructure 3,000 2,000 2,000 - - 1,000 - -

H4

Climate Change Response (N): To provide additional capital funding to improve drainage in response to highways flooding brought about by increasing and changing rainfall patterns.

Environment &

0Infrastructure

10,000 1,500 1,500 - - 2,500 3,000 3,000

H5

Highways Maintenance Covid pressure (N): To fund additional costs associated with Covid-19, ensuring that agreed outcomes can be delivered.

Environment &

Infrastructure 1,260 1,260 1,260 - - - - -

H6

Highways maintenance (R): This is an ongoing programme to extend the life of the highways infrastructure, including carriageways, footways & cycleways and highway drainage systems, ensuring they meet their full

Environment &

Infrastructure

Annual programme

42,760 15,930 26,830 - 44,483 45,818 47,193


Ref Description


Directorate

Total scheme

cost

Cost 2021/22

HCC funding 2021/22

Grants 2021/22


Cost 2022/23

Cost 2023/24

Cost 2024/25

£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

service potential and preserve their value to Hertfordshire. This is delivered by means of a county-wide programme of targeted preventative treatments on identified sections and repair/ rehabilitation of failing/failed sections when practicable.

H7

Street Lighting Refurbishment/Replacement Programme (R): Ongoing maintenance and replacement of the existing street lighting and illuminated signs infrastructure.

Environment &

Infrastructure

Annual programme

5,469 5,469 - - 5,469 5,469 5,469

H8

Traffic Signals Refurbishment/Replacement Programme (R): Ongoing programme to replace and refurbish traffic signals to ensure the safe, fully functional and reliable operation of these assets which is vital to effective performance of the highway network

Environment &

Infrastructure

Annual programme

2,030 2,030 - - 2,030 2,030 2,030

H9

Safety Barriers refurbishment/replacement programme (R): Programme to maintain the replace and refurbish the safety barrier infrastructure across Hertfordshire’s highway network

Environment &

Infrastructure

Annual programme

1,050 1,050 - - 1,050 1,050 1,050

H10

Street Lighting Private Cable Network Refurbishment (R): Investment to replace the existing private cable network with new cabling.

Environment &

Infrastructure

Annual programme

332 332 - - 332 332 332

H11

Bridge Asset management and maintenance service (R): HCC has a statutory duty to maintain highway bridges. Successful management of bridges will also prevent network disruption.

Environment &

Infrastructure

Annual programme

6,080 6,080 - - 6,262 6,450 6,644


Ref Description


Directorate

Total scheme

cost

Cost 2021/22

HCC funding 2021/22

Grants 2021/22


Cost 2022/23

Cost 2023/24

Cost 2024/25

£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

H12

Highways ITP Budget (R): Projects are a mix of transport and highways improvement measures. Schemes seek to help manage and reduce congestion, provide journey time reliability, address air quality issues by encouraging a shift to the bus, walking or cycling, and the reduction of road casualties. Schemes will improve the quality of life for residents through speed compliance, and accessibility schemes and support economic development.

Environment &

Infrastructure

Annual programme

6,885 - 5,880 1,005 7,324 4,743 4,743

H13

Highways Locality Budgets (E): Annual programme which allows councillors to direct funding to highway maintenance and improvement schemes in consultation with residents and communities

Environment &

Infrastructure

Annual programme

6,006 6,006 - - 6,006 6,006 6,006

H14

A602 Improvements Stevenage to/from Ware (R,P): To improve overall journey times and increase journey time reliability on the A602 route between Stevenage and Ware by increasing the capacity of specific junctions and reducing the curvature of specific bends on the A602 to meet current standards

Environment &

Infrastructure 33,559 6,280 5,780 500 - 665 - -

H15

A120 Bypass (Little Hadham) and Flood Alleviation Scheme (R,P): The scheme will provide a northern 3.9km bypass of Little Hadham

Environment &

Infrastructure 51,982 2,496 243 - 2,253 86 72 -

H16 New River Bridge Scheme (R,P): To construct a new road and bridge adjacent to the existing Essex Road link.

Environment &

Infrastructure 10,198 278 - - 278 80 25 -


Ref Description


Directorate

Total scheme

cost

Cost 2021/22

HCC funding 2021/22

Grants 2021/22


Cost 2022/23

Cost 2023/24

Cost 2024/25

£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

H17

A414 Scheme development (London Colney Roundabout) (R,P): Investment to improve the corridor to assist in facilitating growth set out in Local Plans along the A414 and help to mitigate the impacts of development on the network

Environment &

Infrastructure 13,537 805 805 - - 4,992 5,104 2,000

H18

Carriageway maintenance - improving local roads (R): This project complements the existing carriageway maintenance capital programmes by providing additional funds targeted on unclassified roads that are in or approaching a poor condition

Environment &

Infrastructure 29,000 4,000 4,000 - - 4,000 - -

H19

A10 Buntingford South Roundabout (R): This project proposes major improvements to the roundabout on the A10 where it meets London Road, the southern exit from Buntingford. This will address capacity issues on the roundabout which will evolve as the result of future development in and around the town.

Environment &

Infrastructure 2,771 2,065 - - 2,065 651 45 10

H20

Management & Improvement of the Access & Rights of Way (RoW) Network (E): This is an ongoing project to ensure the County Council discharges its statutory duty to properly maintain the RoW network in a safe and usable condition, including bridge repair and replacement, surfacing & drainage, constructing new routes and improving routes.

Environment &

Infrastructure

Annual programme

601 256 305 40 650 700 700


Ref Description


Directorate

Total scheme

cost

Cost 2021/22

HCC funding 2021/22

Grants 2021/22


Cost 2022/23

Cost 2023/24

Cost 2024/25

£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000

H21

Countryside and Rights of Way (RoW) Vehicle Replacement Programme (R): Replacement of vehicles used by the Countryside and RoW team to enable site visits and attendance at meetings and by volunteers undertaking roles on behalf of the service.

Environment &

Infrastructure

Annual programme

- - - - - 64 14

Total 94,897 55,741 33,515 5,641 89,580 86,408 85,691


Documents

H&E Strategic Direction · it challenging to recruit and retain engineering staff in the face of competition particularly 1 National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme IP Part B: Strategic