Councillors Stanford-Beale declared a prejudicial interest in Item 32, on the basis that she was a Council-appointed Non-Executive Director of Reading Transport Limited.

The Minutes of the meetings held on 16 November 2021 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Minutes of the Meetings held on 11 November 2021 and 13 January 2022.

The Minutes of the meetings of Traffic Management Sub-Committee held on 11 November 2021 and 13 January 2022 were received.

·         AWE Local Liaison Committee – 30 November 2021

·         Joint Waste Disposal Board – 7 September 2021

·         Reading Climate Change Partnership – 30 November 2021

The Minutes of the following meetings were received:

• AWE Local Liaison Committee – 30 November 2021
• Joint Waste Disposal Board – 7 September 2021
• Reading Climate Change Partnership – 30 November 2021.

Questions submitted pursuant to Standing Order 36 in relation to matters falling within the Committee’s Powers & Duties which have been submitted in writing and received by the Head of Legal & Democratic Services no later than four clear working days before the meeting.

Questions on the following matters were asked in accordance with Standing Order 36.

(The full text of the questions and replies were made available on the Reading Borough Council website).

A report providing an update on the Highway Maintenance Programme 2022/2023 and the 2021/2022 Highway Maintenance Update.

The Executive Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report providing the Committee with an update on the progress of year two (2021/22) of the three year £9m Highway Capital Investment Programme 2020/21 to 2022/23.  The report also informed the Committee of the proposed year three (2020/23) of the three year £9m Highway Capital Investment Programme 2020/21 to 2022/23 and to give spend approval for the remaining £3.75m investment and of the Highway Maintenance 2022/23 Award announcement from the Department for Transport (DfT) Local Transport Block Funding (Integrated Transport and Highway Maintenance) settlement and to give spend approval.  Finally, the report provided the Committee with an update on the completed Highway Maintenance 2021/2022 DfT Local Transport Block Funding Capital Works Programme.  The following appendices were attached to the report:

Sam Shean, Highways and Traffic Services Manager, provided the Committee with an update on year two of the three year programme reporting that, 122 residential roads had been resurfaced, 62 in the first year, with 307 roads having been resurfaced in total.  When the programme came to end it had been estimated that close to 500 roads would have been resurfaced.  There was an extensive communication package in place that explained that the work was carried out in a two-stage process.  The work carried a two year warranty and work on any roads that had had to be cancelled would be put to the end of the programme and would be dealt with by one gang that would deal with all works that had not been completed.

The Committee discussed the report and thanked Sam Shean and his team for the work that had gone into coordinating the programme and, with regard to the two-stage process, it was suggested that it should be made clearer to residents that the first of stage was preparation work and not the end of the process.

Resolved –

(1)     That spend approval for the £3.75M Residential Road & Pavement Maintenance Year-3 Programme 2022/2023 be granted;

(2)     That spend approval for the DFT Local Transport Block Grant Funding award for 2022/202 be granted;

(3)     That the Executive Director of Economic Growth & Neighbourhood Services, in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Strategic Environment Planning and Transport, the Assistant Director of Legal & Democratic Services and the Assistant Director of Finance, be granted delegated authority to enter into relevant contracts required to undertake the proposed 2022/23 Capital Highway Maintenance Programme, as set out in section 4 of the report.

A report informing the Committee on the outcome of the six month trail to lower the investigatory level safety defect criteria in relation to highway carriageway defects and seeking approval to formally adopt the lower investigatory level safety defect criteria in carriageways following the successful six month trial.

The Executive Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report informing the Committee of the outcomes for the six month trial to lower the investigatory level safety defect criteria in relation to highway carriageway defects and sought approval to adopt formally the lower investigatory level safety defect criteria in carriageways following the successful six month trial.

The report explained that prior to the six month trial actionable carriageway defects had been classed as having a minimum of 50mm depth over an approximate area of 300mm by 300mm.  Defects of a smaller size could also be actioned by the Highway Inspector if there was a concern that leaving them would impose too great a risk based on a number of criteria.  The Highways Team had also reviewed their inspection and regime three years previously, this had included the introduction of an electronic system allowing inspections to be carried out using a handheld tablet and then notifying electronically the Highways and Drainage Works Manager who assigned work to the repair gangs directly on their tablets.

The demand on pothole repairs which had enabled the transition to addressing defects of a lesser depth manageable had also been reduced by the Council’s £9m Capital Investment into residential roads and pavements over three years and was addressing the residential roads in most need.

The report set out two options and recommended approval of the second which proposed amending the investigatory level criteria to anything over 40mm depth over an approximate area on 300mm by 300mm following the successful six month trial.  Due to a proactive residential roads and pavement surfacing programme, there had been a manageable number of potholes that had required repair during the six month trial period, that had resulted in actionable potholes repaired remaining comparable to previous years.  The Highways Works Team were repairing the statutory pothole safety defect repairs within repair timescales and the vast majority of 28-day repair orders were being completed within the first week of issue.  This had created capacity within the team to not only manage the statutory repair work, but also take on additional income generation opportunities.  The initial expected surge in defects requiring repair during the six month trial, had not materialised and was no longer expected to be a concern for the foreseeable future.  Performance Indicator monitoring of actionable defects were provided quarterly and this would flag up any increase should the position change.

Resolved –

(1)    That the outcome of the six month trial to reduce the highway investigatory level safety defect criteria in the carriageway be noted;

(2)     That the proposed change to the highway investigatory level safety defect criteria in the carriageway, as set out in section 4 of the report, be approved.

A report informing the Committee of the successful procurement process for the refurbishment of the Chatham Street and Vastern Road Pumping Station and seeking spend authority to enter into a contract with the successful tenderer in accordance with Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

The Executive Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report informing the Committee of the successful procurement process for the refurbishment of the Chatham Street and Vastern Road Pumping Stations and sought spend approval to enter into a contract with the successful tenderer in accordance with Public Contracts Regulations 2051.  A Financial Implications Report was attached to the report at Appendix 1.

The report explained that the Council was responsible for the maintenance of a limited number of public highway surface water pumping stations including those at Chatham Street and Vastern Road.  The pumping station within the Chatham Street roundabout had been installed to drain part of the Inner Distribution Road in the Town Centre when it had been constructed and the pumping station in the Vastern Road roundabout had been installed to drain the carriageway under the railway bridge which had been constructed at around the same time.  The pumping stations had been installed and commissioned approximately 40 to 50 years previously and were maintained and operated by Thames Water on the Council’s behalf.  Following changes in legislation in 2011, all surface water pumping stations had been handed back to the Council, as they only drained surface water from the highway, not private property.  The pumping stations protected strategic routes within the Town Centre for all road users and upgrading them would reduce risks to all road user for the coming 20 to 30 years, reduce the risk to personnel maintaining the equipment and reduce long term operation costs.  The requirement was that both pumping stations were to be totally upgraded to current standards with new pumps and equipment and up to date monitoring technology.  This was to ensure their long term future and ease of ongoing maintenance burden and reduce any potential liability for the travelling public, the Council and maintenance contractors for at least the nest 20 to 30 years.

Resolved –

(1)    That the successful outcome of the Refurbishment of the Chatham Street and Vastern Road Pumping Stations contract procurement be noted;

(2)     That spend approval for the Refurbishment of the Chatham Street and Vastern Road Pumping Stations be granted.

A report providing the Committee with an update on progress with the delivery of the current programme of Strategic Transport Schemes in Reading.

The Executive Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report providing an update on progress with the delivery of the current programme of major transport schemes in the Borough namely:

South Reading Mass Rapid Transit

Phase 4 of the works was currently being constructed on site, which included an outbound bus lane on the A33 between Rose Kiln Lane and Lindisfarne Way, and the upgrade of the traffic signals to an intelligent method of control at the A33/Bennet Road gyratory.  Construction of the current phase of works had been delayed initially due to Covid-19 and more latterly due to significant technical delays with implementing the enhanced traffic signal arrangements on Bennet Road gyratory.  However, the signal upgrade works had been substantially completed and the new signals had been successfully operating the junction since January 2022.  The resolution of a few minor snagging issues with the signal upgrades were on-going to enable the full Phase 4 scheme to be fully completed.

Reading Green Park Station

With regard to Reading Green Park Station, following a review of scheme progress to date, additional funding of £2.25m from Great Western Railway and £2.015m from Network Rail had been secured to support the delivery of both Reading Green Park and the Reading West Station Upgrade scheme.  Construction of the station and multi-modal interchange had continued on site for the duration of the pandemic, but there had been impacts on the schedule resulting from Covid and Brexit impacts, material shortages, which had resulted in further delays to the programme.  The current timeline indicated construction works would be complete by spring 2022 and once complete, the station would go through a period of testing before its official opening and public use.  The Council was working with Network Rail and GWR to ensure that the station was open as soon as possible after construction works were completed.

Reading West Station Upgrade

Works to the northern footway, as part of the Reading West Upgrade, had been completed and works to the southern footway were due to be finished in summer 2022, with the remaining work to be carried out by utility companies to finish the required diversion works.  Following completion of these works GWR would take possession of the southern footway and commence their station building construction programme.  The overall project was currently projected to be complete by the end of 2022.  The Council would continue to work with railway partners, including Network Rail, to seek opportunities to secure funding for a full rebuild of the platforms, which was not currently affordable within the funding envelope for the current scheme. 

Tilehurst Station Upgrade

Network Rail had successfully secured funding to install lifts at Tilehurst station and the lifts would be added to the existing station footbridge which had passive provision designed in, which when complete would provide step free access to all platforms at the station.  The indicative timeline for delivery of the lift improvement works was set out in the report.

Active Travel Fund  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

A report seeking approval from the Committee to establish an Enhanced Partnership Agreement with local bus operators.

The Executive Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report seeking approval from the Committee to establish an Enhanced Partnership agreement with local bus operators.  The Enhanced Partnership Plan was attached to the report at Appendix A, the Enhanced Partnership Scheme was attached at Appendix B and a letter in response to objections that had been received from local bus operators was attached to the report at Appendix C.

The report explained that the agreement had been prepared to be in accordance with the Council’s published Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), and it was a requirement of the National Bus Strategy for all local highway authorities to establish an Enhanced Partnership with all operators in the local area.  A BSIP had been published for the local area in October 2021 and set out an ambitious programme of measures to improve bus services in Reading.  Following adoption of the BSIP the Council had led the process to establish an Enhanced Partnership (EP) with local bust operators, in order to be in a position to deliver further bus service improvements.  As part of this process external legal advice and guidance had been obtained from Freeths LLP who had specialised knowledge of the regulations that were needed to set up an EP.

The EP consisted of two documents, the EP Plan and the EP Scheme.  The Plan set out proposals that covered the period 2021 to 2026 and drew on text from the adopted BSIP and did not add any proposals that were not part of the BSIP.  Its proposals aligned with the objectives of the National Bus Strategy.  The EP Plan reflected the ambitions for local bus services as set out in the approved BSIP, this included a range of enhancements and included improvements to service frequencies, a programme of bus priority measure and upgrading the bus fleet including the move to electric buses, subject to securing grant funding, in a number of categories as follows:

·         More frequent and reliable services;

·         Improvements to planning/integration with other modes;

·         Improvements to fares and ticketing;

·         Higher specification buses;

·         Improvements to passenger engagement.

The report explained that the EP Plan included detailed arrangements as to how the partnership would work, on-going governance and partnership working arrangements with all stakeholders, including local operators, including the establishment of an EP Board and EP Forum.  In addition, officers were currently working with the other Berkshire authorities to establish a Berkshire wide Forum to discuss cross-boundary services. 

The second document was the EP Scheme that contained only some of the proposals from the EP Plan that would take effect from 1 April 2022 in a number of categories that were set out in the report.  It was anticipated that this first EP Scheme would be reviewed once more detail was known about the availability of Government funding.  The Plan contained a variation mechanism to enable additional element to be added to the EP Scheme if funding was made available for element which did not currently sit within the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.