Highways
We will get less funding from government for highways improvements in the future, so from now on we will be focussing on maintaining the roads, filling pot holes and emptying gulleys.
What is happening?
- You told us that traffic improvements should be stopped or reduced and we have listened to what you said.
- Public safety is our primary concern so our emphasis will shift from improvement to maintenance.
- These changes will be tough but we have to make sure our roads, footways and bridges are safe - if we don't we'd be forced to close them
- Money saved by stopping improvement projects will be diverted into frontline services to ensure our roads stay safe
Facts and figures
- We need to find total savings of £7.9 million across all our highways services
- 99.3% of people at roadshows wanted us to stop or reduce traffic improvement schemes
- More than 57% of people wanted us to stop or reduce maintenance for roads, footpaths and bridges and street lighting
- We need to find total savings of £7.9 million across all our highways services
What does the service offer now?
Gloucestershire County Council currently has a Highways budget of £28.9 million, which is used to repair and maintain 5,397km of roads and keep them open in bad weather, provide traffic signals, maintain street lighting and bridges, deal with flood and drainage issues, provide a rights of way and road safety service.
We employ 146 frontline staff, who work out on the network and another 37 support staff. After two severe winters and the floods of 2007, Gloucestershire's roads have suffered extensive damage and teams have been working hard to make up the backlog with decreasing funding.
What will the service offer in the future?
In future the Highways budget will be reduced to £21m and focus will shift to maintenance and public safety. We can no longer afford to spend money on upgrading the roads so planned improvement schemes will stop while repair work will increase. Unfortunately job losses cannot be avoided.
In addition to this, money that we get from the Department for Transport in December, traditionally used for new transport schemes and improvements will be re-directed into maintenance instead. This means that Highways funding will be spent on:
- Repairing potholes, patching road damage and resurfacing where safety is an issue
- Responding to customer reported problems - like potholes and faulty streetlights
- Maintaining signals, signs and lines, street lighting and grass verges where safety is an issue
We will continue with the successful street lighting programme which has seen thousands of lights switched off or dimmed across the county. Road safety emphasis will shift to enable more prevention and education across all parts of the community through the use of new initiatives and technology. There will be no new investments in the speed camera network.
In partnership Gloucestershire County Council and Atkins, through its supply chain, have already negotiated a 10% saving on part of the Highway Service delivered through Gloucestershire Highways.
Overall, we will be looking for joined up street services with Districts, Parish and Town Councils to better meet the needs of local communities.
When will this happen?
A restructure across Highways will take place in 2011/12. A review of policies will be required starting 2011/12. A new Highways Maintenance contract will be required from April 2014.
We will hear about the Local Transport Plan settlement from Government in December. This will tell us about capital allocations, however we anticipate reduced funding.
For further information on Gloucestershire Highways visit www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/highways
To see why safety needs to be our number one priority, and how we already consider this in our decision making around which roads to repair watch our short YouTube video at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/roadrescue
