The Highways and Traffic Management Service needs to be able to react and adapt when faced with storm events, bad winters and prolonged damaging weather such as wind, rain, ice and snow.
The overall service budget is a fixed sum. We are not permitted to spend more than our allocation without authorisation.
Excellent budget management is vital to the success of our business.
Keeping things balanced as the year progresses is an ongoing challenge.
There are times when we need to respond to unexpected events, such as the storms that occurred during 2012 and 2013. A contingency is held within the capital budget to address structural repairs to the road network following extreme weather. As a general rule, services are expected to contain in year pressures by adjusting expenditure on other activities so, in these circumstances, the response needs to be appropriate, measured and managed. Depending on the severity of the event, planned works may need to be cancelled to ensure the Highways service can stay within our budget.