1. What was the last 3 years budget for transport related schemes, broken down by year?
This information is already available within the Council’s Budget Books.
2. What contractors/software are/is used to analyse the road network, before a potential scheme is added to the programme?
The methods the Council uses to provide traffic intelligence before a potential scheme is added to any programme of work varies considerably, dependent on the size and nature of the intended scheme.
The Council may use a regional framework contract containing numerous traffic survey contractors to engage the cheapest company to undertake certain types of evidence provision before, during and after any potential schemes are designed and implemented. Then the Council may use a licensed software system to analyse the results of these surveys. The Council might also use other licensed software to analyse Department of Transport (DfT) freely provided data. It is important to note that these software systems may also be used before, during and after any schemes are considered or implemented, and that same software is also used for non-scheme related studies such as generic enquires and local statistics, so the cost of the licenses is not solely related to potential scheme work.
3. What is the annual cost for these, listed individually?
The cost of data intelligence provided by contractors under the framework contract for potential schemes varies from a few hundred pounds, and could be up to around £50,000 in exceptional circumstances for very large schemes.
The annual license fee for the data hosting and analysis system is £20,000.
The annual license fee for the DfT data analysis system is £3,500.
4. How many scheme were completed in the last 3 annual programmes, broken down by year?
Compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. The Council can confirm that this information is held, however, to locate and extract the requested information a review of each of the projects would be required. This review would include actions such as contacting the lead sponsor, determining the state of the scheme, identifying if it is completed and agreeing when it was completed. There are 276 projects for the last three financial years that would need to be reviewed, and we estimate this would take 15 minutes per project.
Under the Act, there is a duty to provide advice and assistance as to how a request can be refined to fit within the appropriate limit. Unfortunately, due to the way the data is held, this is not possible for this request.
5. Please confirm the number of staff within the Highways/Transport team
The Council does not have a team called the “Highways/Transport team”. We do however have a Climate Change, Environment and Transport service area, which is made up of numerous teams. There are 569 staff within the Planning, Transportation and Environment team, the Highways Intelligence Group, Highway Design and Built Environments Team and the Bridges and Structures Team.
6. Please confirm the cumulative annual wage for the team
The Council does not have a team called the “Highways/Transport team”. We do however have a Climate Change, Environment and Transport service area, which is made up of numerous teams. The annual wage is £17,940,347 for staff within the Planning, Transportation and Environment team, the Highways Intelligence Group, Highway Design and Built Environments Team and the Bridges and Structures Team.