1. Why have the North Devon roads been left to deteriorate?
This is a national issue. The recently published findings of ALARM Survey 2023, which relate to the 2022/23 financial year, show that the backlog of carriageway repairs to fix local roads in England and Wales has reached £14.02 billion, which is further compounded by increased costs caused by rising inflation.
The impact these national challenges have on the Devon network is profound.
The deterioration that you refer to comes from a reduction in the amount of planned resurfacing, patching and surface treatments such as surface dressing and micro asphalt. This trend mirrors the ‘real terms’ reduction in the capital allocation received from the Department for Transport. Since 2017/18 the capital funding received by the Authority has been effectively unchanged at approximately £52m with the exception of 2020/21 where we were given an additional one-off grant of approximately 50% extra and the additional £9.4m announced in the recent budget. Over the same period, inflation has devalued the settlement by approximately 32%. That means we can deliver a third less planned resurfacing and patching work than 6 years ago.
In 2021 the UK Roads Liaison Group published ‘The Case for Investing in Highway Maintenance’ to help the Department for Transport make the case to HM Treasury for investing in highway maintenance ahead of the Autumn Statement. I draw your attention to page 16 and the various Investment Scenarios ranging from ‘Decline’ to ‘Accelerated Improvement’. The funding from Treasury aligned with ‘Decline’.
Since 2012/13 the annual revenue settlement allocated from the Council’s budget for maintenance of Devon roads has gradually fallen from around £35 million in 2012/13 to approximately £25 million in 2022/23. Coupled with inflationary change, in particular the rapid increase in inflation seen in 2022/23, this has meant that the budget for highway maintenance has halved in real terms compared to a decade ago. This reduction is compounded by the prioritisation of safety, particularly pothole repairs and winter gritting. The knock-on impact is proactive, cost effective works being stopped, contributing to a more rapid deterioration of roads.
Despite these pressures, the Highways and Traffic Management Service has continued to focus on review and improvement of current working practices to increase efficiency and reduce disruption, recognising that in the absence of adequate funds the Service must prioritise.
The recently adopted Highway Infrastructure Asset Management Plan is a key component in ensuring that key asset groups have the right maintenance strategies in place, that fit within a wider framework of prioritisation and transparency.
2. What is your cost per pothole repair? How are those costs determined?
For the financial year 2022/2023, our average cost per pothole repair, for defects up to 1sqm in size, was approximately £102. The current contractual arrangement is based on a cost reimbursable payment mechanism, and not defined/rates. This allows our contractor to be flexible in the extent of resources actually required for repairs, noting that pothole defects are highly variable in nature, and require different resources on a job by job basis. This approach offers the Authority assurance that resources, and costs, are balanced for agility and efficiency.
3. What is your policy for quality control of repairs to a satisfactory standard?
There is a system of audit in place which sees Devon County Council check a randomly selected sample of completed pothole and other safety defect repairs each year. Our policies and specifications set out that pothole defects must be repaired to nationally recognised standards, using HAPAS (Highway Authorities Product Approval Scheme) approved materials.
In response to our specific requirements, out term contractor Milestone Infrastructure have established a system of quality control which includes the preparation of Inspection and Test Plans, and visual Benchmarks to convey the exact quality requirements to the operatives delivering the work. These are formally briefed to every operative repairing potholes.
Where repairs have been undertaken that are not to standard, remedial works instructions are raised, which require our term contractor, Milestone Infrastructure, to return to site and re-do the repair to the required specification, at no extra cost to the Authority. We also follow up on reports in relation to poor quality from other officers and members of the public. Our contractor also has an established system of quality audit in place and have evidenced hundreds of quality inspections in 22/23.
In addition, we have established performance improvement groups comprising of officers within the County Council and Milestone who meet regularly in a bid to drive continuous improvement within the service. An example of this would be the inclusion of serviceability elements when capacity allows. This approach includes attending defects that do not yet meet the intervention levels laid out in the Highway Safety Policy but were repaired due to the presence of cracking and crazing that would eventually fail and result in a return visit. This methodology is efficient and offers good value for money to the Authority.
4. If you have a quality control policy (3 above) why do so many repairs fail within a such short periods of time?
Devon County Council has a legal duty to keep the roads safe for road users and protect itself from legal claims. When a pothole forms, it is often in the winter when freezing temperatures and water are present. These are the worst weather conditions for carrying out repairs and we acknowledge that some repairs will inevitably fail in these conditions. However, we would be negligent in our legal duty if we did not keep the road safe, despite these challenges.
We have repaired circa 40,000 potholes in 22/23 and our audit processes do not confirm the assertion that there are many failures. In fact, we believe the majority of repairs are delivered efficiently and within specification, however for the reasons stated above, the effectiveness of repairs is heavily compromised by weather conditions on occasions, particularly in winter.
The nature of the rural road network in Devon, which is affected by mud, leaves, run-off water from fields frequently results in our road network becoming flooded due to blocked drainage features, and this exacerbates the deterioration of the road network, and at the same time compromises the quality of repairs achievable at reasonable cost. This is comparable to the experiences of other similar Authorities.
In addition to unsuitable weather conditions, there are a number of other reasons including works undertaken not to specification, i.e. poor compaction of material or unsealed edges. We take failure of defect repairs seriously, be they identified through established audit process or reports from members of the public and will always actively take this up with our contractor for further action at their cost.
We are continually seeking new and innovative ways of addressing defects on our network to ensure best possible value for money and longevity. Examples of this include a recent adoption of a proprietary material that can be laid in damp and wet conditions.
5. Are the poor repairs due to the actual people doing the repairs not getting paid an appropriate fee due to the number of companies our money passes through before reaching the final repairer?
As above, there are a number of reasons why a repair may fail prematurely. Where our system of audit determines this to be through incorrect or non-adherence to the contract specification these are flagged and remedial works requested, at no additional expense to the authority. The vast majority of defect repairs undertaken on our network are carried out directly by our term maintenance contractor.
Our Contractor, Milestone employs their own workforce that carry out the vast majority of the repairs across the network. The circa 200 strong Milestone workforce are local people living in the Devon community, they are directly employed with a wage appropriate for the region, and are invested in delivering an efficient and effective service for their communities. As mentioned above, they are trained and briefed on the expected quality standards. At times of high demand in the winter and early spring, this workforce is supplemented with sub-contractors, who are similarly trained and briefed.
6. Is the continuous repair failure around Barnstaple due to inferior workmanship or inferior materials or both?
Please see responses to question 4 and 5.
7. Why is so much of taxpayers money wasted on these inferior repairs
Devon County Council, as the Highway Authority, have a statutory duty under the Highways Act 1980 to maintain a safe highway network for our users – our safety inspection and safety defect repair process form the basis for this. As previously mentioned, we have well-established processes in place which focus on repair quality and delivery, to ensure best possible value for money. Where we see examples of this not happening this is addressed with our contractor and also fed into wider key performance indicator monitoring, which in turn may influence overall payment.
The real challenge for the authority is how to move away from relatively expensive reactive pothole repairs to planned capital interventions that offer much greater value for money and a better experience for all road users. This approach requires long term adequate capital budgets and improved revenue budgets.
8. How are the contracts for repairs handed out? How many actual companies are involved and why (if it’s more than one company) is that necessary?
The County Council is bound by the Public Contract Regulations 2015. Procurement activity requires the highest standards of probity, transparency and fair competition. This includes adherence to the Council’s Code of Business Conduct and strategic procurement good practice and operating procedures.
The Term Maintenance Contract, which is the key operational contract for the maintenance of the highway network, was awarded in 2017 following an extensive procurement exercise. As mentioned previously, the vast majority of repairs are delivered directly by Milestone Infrastructure, using local people, meaning there are no other pass through companies, with the exception of subcontract support at peak times.
All of the procurement opportunities are advertised via this portal Supplying the South West Portal. Further details can be found in the procurement documents we publish for each competitive process and the wider considerations outlined in the current strategy.
9. Maybe a complete Value For Money review should be carried out and the findings made public, or is that something Devon County Council do not want made public as it would show how inefficient and totally not cost effective the current system is
The service welcomes all approaches to learning and innovation and regularly reports to Scrutiny Committee regarding performance and value for money and these findings are publicly available here.