ITEM CA10
CABINET– 21 APRIL 2009
HIGHWAYS ADOPTION – EXTERNAL PARTNERSHIP ARRANGEMENTS
Report by the Head of Transport
Introduction
1. The 1980 Highways Act sets out the powers of the Highway Authorities to adopt highways so that they become public highway maintainable at the public expense. Primarily this is undertaken by an agreement under Section 38 (Adoption by agreement with developer). There are also Section 278 agreements (contributions towards highways works by third parties and in practice by persons deriving special benefit from them). These responsibilities are for the County Council as Highway Authority to undertake.
2. In Oxfordshire, the management and execution of these responsibilities are (for largely historical reasons) fragmented, both in terms of how the County Council is organised internally to discharge its responsibilities and how it works with external partners, in particular Cherwell and West Oxfordshire District Councils, where different arrangements exist whereby these Councils are responsible for delivering some aspects of this work area, notably Section 38 work, on an informal/undocumented (although long established) ‘agency’ basis.
3. To establish whether this work could be undertaken more effectively, a review of this function was undertaken in the autumn of 2008 as part of the County Council’s Business Process Review programme. The purpose of this report is to identify one of the key recommendations of this review, which was that all work in this area be managed and undertaken by the County Council and an end brought to the informal agency arrangements. As a material departure from established policy, a Cabinet decision is required before notice of change can be given to the two District Councils affected.
Background
4. Where a new road is built statutory procedures are directed at ensuring that it is constructed to appropriate standard. This leads to either a Section 38 agreement or occasionally to a private road agreement. If a Section 38 agreement is entered into, on satisfactory completion the road/s become public highways maintainable at the public expense.
5. The County Council currently oversees the whole of the adoption process with a dedicated team responsible for this work. However there are separate arrangements in West Oxfordshire and Cherwell Districts for undertaking the checking and monitoring work which takes place prior to adoption. Here, the District Councils are responsible under an informal agency arrangement for approving the technical submission (based on County Council standards/requirements); drawing up the Section 38 agreements and monitoring the works. They do not approve the areas for adoption or carry out the adoption process however; this is done by the County Council. In addition, Section 278 work is usually dealt with by the County Council although there is the discretion to allocate work to the District Council teams.
6. This Agency system dates back to the early 1970s and although West Oxfordshire and Cherwell Districts have retained agency agreements since then, there has never been traced a written agreement reflecting this arrangement. The County Council’s constitution records the existence of such an Agency arrangement (Section K Schedule 1). It also mentions a comparable Agency arrangement with the Vale of White Horse District Council but it is understood that they decided not to refresh this arrangement following changes to local government structures in November 2001.
Business Process Review: Scope/Conclusions/ Recommendations
7. This project looked at the process and structure within the County Council and the external Agency arrangements. The objectives, scope and expected benefits of the review process can be summarised as:
· Identifying a consistent process for the approval, technical audit, construction monitoring and adoption of publicly maintained highways across the County, with the aim of increasing efficiency, achieving consistency and reducing cost, leading to cashable savings · Reaching a view as to whether the current agency arrangements should be retained, extended or withdrawn and identification of an appropriate organisational structure and staffing to manage the process and clarification of roles and responsibilities · The revised process should be financially self-sufficient and consideration should be given to modifying the current charging regime to ensure that OCC achieves best value for money for the Service being delivered and that the Council has an appropriately resourced and organised Highway Adoptions service to be able to deliver against future demands, in particular those arising from the significant levels of housing planned for Oxfordshire 8. Annex 1 (download as .doc file) summarises the main points which came out of the review process. Of particular note for this report are:
· A lack of communication between authorities and teams results in confusion as to where developments currently stand.
· The informal agency agreement is not optimal as they do not have responsibility for the full range of Highway Adoption functions. In some cases, there are issues with trust of District Council based “agency” staff, which results in OCC employees checking and overseeing construction work, with resources wasted, duplicating work. Although this is felt to be needed, this “double handling” further stretches staff resources.
9. Annex 2 (download as .doc file) summarises the advantages and disadvantages of the different agency agreement options. The conclusions of the report were that the current informal arrangements should end and the responsibility for this work taken back from West Oxfordshire and Cherwell. This was on the basis of facilitating “one team” working across the whole of Oxfordshire, which would help to maintain consistency of quality across the County, as well as ensuring control of the process, and potentially introduce economies of scale. It would also allow better management and control of costs, for example by reducing duplication.
10. This has been investigated further, looking into the number of houses that are predicted to be built in each District over the 2009-2021 period - the information is shown in annex 3 (download as .doc file). These are based on a combination of figures related to proposed build rates under the current Structure Plan (to 2016) and estimated figures for the South East Plan period 2006-2026, with the period beyond 2016 less certain. Clearly, the economic climate and the implications for development mean that these figures are likely to be less accurate and subject to greater change than would typically be the case.
11. Calculations have also been done on the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff that would be needed to deliver the ‘Section 38’ work associated with this level of development. There are currently approximately 2 FTEs (excluding the management of the function) working in this area: retaining responsibility for the Vale, South & City Districts only would mean between 2.5 and 4.5 FTE staff required – the latter figure double the existing level of resource. Adding responsibility for West Oxfordshire and Cherwell would add a requirement for between 1.5 and 3.5 FTEs, increasing the resources needed across the County to between 4 and 8 FTEs.
12. Under the assumption that bringing the two agencies back in house would add 3 FTEs to the resources available, making a total of 5 FTEs, the predicted level of development activity post 2011 would require additional resources to deliver. These would be provided through the new Transport Service contract arrangements (see following paragraphs), for example via ‘top up’ support from the chosen external provider
Transport Service Changes
13. Work is also currently underway on re-tendering the Transport Service Design & Construction contract, which has reinforced the message that key drivers for the Transport Service over the next 10 to 20 years will be consistency of delivery and customer service to a high standard.
14. Creating a single team for the Highways Adoption function is consistent with the Council’s aims and objectives to manage the transport service on a more consistent basis, both to enable greater efficiency and provide a higher level of customer service. The new contract arrangements would support quality and cost benefits being sought by bringing this whole area into the single transport team and also allow peaks and troughs in the workload (and associated risks) to be better managed.
Views of Cherwell and West Oxfordshire District Councils
15. In addition to being involved as consultees in the review process, discussions have taken place with both authorities on the recommendation that the informal agency arrangements be ended. .
16. Whilst recognising this area as a Highway Authority function, Cherwell District Council is concerned that links with the local planning process and ability to provide a robust technical / engineering function (for example in relation to land drainage) would suffer. Their views are appended in annex 4 (download as .doc file).
17. A detailed proposal has been received from officers at West Oxfordshire District Council covering the financial and other arrangements to support the transfer of section 38 work back to the County Council (a transfer which they have not objected to). This proposal would need to be carefully considered and discussed further with the District Council, as part of the process for agreeing the handover arrangements covered in paragraph 21. An update may be given in advance of (or at) the meeting.
18. It is recognised that there are strong benefits in close working on the whole development control process at a local level and there will be a need under any revised ‘Countywide’ arrangements to ensure that these are maintained. However it is also worth noting that a significant proportion of planned development is likely to take place on larger / more strategic sites – for example South West Bicester in Cherwell – which will present challenges in terms of integration with the wider transport network and managing the volume of Highway Adoption work undertaken.
Risks
19. As well as the operational concerns raised by Cherwell, the financial risks associated with peaks/troughs of Highways Adoption work in Cherwell District, which are currently substantially borne by the District Council, would fall on the County Council, although these would be mitigated to a large extent by the work/resource being spread across the County and the use of wider transport partnership to manage variations in workload.
Proposed Way Forward and Next Steps
20. It is therefore proposed that formal notice be given to Cherwell and West Oxfordshire District Councils that the present arrangements be ended and for this transfer of responsibility to have taken place before the retendered Transport Service Design & Construction contract starts in June 2010. An informal agreement exists with both Councils that 12 months notice would be given of this changes, although it would be logical for any change to be introduced from the beginning of the 2010/11 financial year.
21. This change will require careful management during this “handover” notice period, in terms of staff and workload. For example, decisions will need to be made on how commitments associated with existing developments are concluded and what arrangements are made for new developments as they come on stream. This Council will need to ensure that its own resources are aligned to meet the requirements of the transitional arrangements agreed, which would include delivering the other changes identified by the BPR.
Financial and Staff Implications
22. Any financial implications are difficult to reliably quantify in the current economic (and therefore house building) climate, although annex 3 suggests that there is a likely to be a financial benefit to the County Council in bringing this work back in house, at least in the short to medium term. However, Highways Adoption is not set up to be a revenue generating activity and there can be no guarantee of this. Further work would need to be undertaken as part of the transitional arrangements to establish these.
23. There is also very likely be a requirement for staff to transfer between authorities under TUPE arrangements - it is estimated that, on average, the equivalent of 1.5 Full Time Equivalent Members of staff in each District undertake this work, although further work is needed to establish this.
RECOMMENDATION
24. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:
(a) formally advise Cherwell and West Oxfordshire District Councils that notice is to be given to end the present arrangements for managing and undertaking Highway Adoption functions; and
(b) agree that these responsibilities to be transferred to the County Council following completion of an appropriate notice period, as part of transitional arrangements to be agreed by all three Councils, with this Council’s position to be agreed by the Head of Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Transport.
STEVE HOWELL Head of Transport Environment & Economy
Background papers: Nil
Contact Officer: John Disley, Tel. (01865) 810460 or john.disley@oxfordshire.gov.uk 27 March 2009 |