Agenda item

Considered – Report of the Corporate Director – Environment on the annual progress and performance to date of NY Highways, the Council’s company for the operational delivery of highways services.

Some of the key points highlighted in the report are as summarised below:

·       NY Highways (NYH) is currently in Years 4 to 5 of the 5 Year Plan, following initial mobilisation and implementation periods. The company is now seeking to transform and make best use of the new arrangements to make changes in a flexible and more dynamic way than under the previous contract.

·       Achievements for NYH in 2022/23 included: delivering efficiency savings (revenue) of £350k last year through the continued use of Spray Injection Patching, employing 18 apprentices across the business, undertaking a staff restructure to minimise wasteful travel time between depots and assigning ‘champions’ for each operational service delivery area, developing a ‘fast track’ programme of training for new employees and achieving ISO accreditation for the company to create more tendering opportunities.

·       Health and safety remains of paramount importance to NYH. The overall performance figures for 2022/23 were positive. But alongside the challenge to improve these figures, targeted campaigns have already been introduced to address the accident frequency rate, such as a Driver Support Programme.

·       In the year ahead (2023/24), work is required to improve NYH operations by engaging with operational staff, along with North Yorkshire Council staff and wider partners to seek out and maximise opportunities resulting from LGR.

·       The 5-year Carbon Plan, which positively contributes towards the reduction in carbon used when delivering the highways services, is well embedded. Examples of actions include making use of route optimisation for crews, efficient works scheduling and the use of warm mix asphalt rather than hot mix in road and footway repairs.

·       The Carbon Counting tool developed by NY Highways is gathering momentum and gaining recognition on a national platform.

Following this, comments and questions raised by the committee included:

·       Information supplied on gully cleaning works undertaken up to the end of October 2023 has been helpful, but could the future schedule of gully cleaning works from November 2023 onwards also be sent to councillors to give them advance notice of works taking place in their division.

·       The need to co-ordinate temporary roadworks and traffic lights on the road network to minimise disruption as far as possible. In response, the concerns were noted, with the specific points raised to be looked into and the potential for a lane rental scheme to charge utility companies for the time that street and road permit works occupy the highway to be explored.

·       The use of spray injection patching to deliver the right treatment at the right location was welcomed. It works as a mini surface dressing treatment to address defects and stop water ingress on a semi-permanent basis to prolong the life of the repair.

·       It was asked whether the influence of the climate change initiatives that have been developed, such as the Carbon Counting tool, can be quantified to show the impact and benefits that the initiatives have had to influence other local authorities?

·       It was felt that more effective scheduling and efficient delivery of works, together with the internal restructure, has helped to improve the response to defects completed on time.

·       Inspections of reinstatements and the requirements to re-do work was discussed.

·       More information was requested on the use of AI cameras to automate near miss recording internally, with officers also highlighting the recent developmental use of AI technology to survey work on highways as part of devising the future capital programme alongside traditional methods.

·       There was frustration around road closures with diversions that are not clearly signposted and then the signs not collected after completion. It was explained that the Council monitors to check the proposed timing of a road closure is suitable, adequate communication has been given and the diversion is right, and will challenge the applicant if this is not the case. It was noted there were particular concerns with Yorkshire Water and a meeting is taking place to discuss this further.

·       The pros and cons of using sat navs to navigate during traffic jams or diversions was discussed, with the road diversion signs displayed to assist tourists and people new to the area to use an alternative route.

·       Consulting local members of intended highway diversion routes as part of the weekly sessions with Highways Area Offices should be already done, and would be tightened up in areas where this wasn’t happening.

·       There was clarification that the recruitment of apprenticeships is a rolling programme, to attract, recruit and retain to create resilience in the organisation and a talent succession programme for the future.

·       If bad weather is expected, then proactive, non-programmed gully cleaning will take place to try to minimise the impact and ensure the drainage system is working as well as it can. By progressing with the KaarbonTech Gully solution, data and information is fed into the system to help determine the frequency of the programmed cleaning schedule and any particular issues at locations.

·       The importance of the Local Flood Risk Management strategy and ongoing work with partners for water management and the interaction with planning as the Lead Local Flooding Authority was noted.

Resolved – That the information within the report and feedback received be noted.