Re-Surfacing/Re-Dressing Work Currently Taking Place - Find a freedom of information request

Alma Park Estate

Re surfacing/re dressing work is currently taking place up there on numerous roads by Lincolnshire County Council or their contractor.

1. Under your 'Worst is first' policy are these roads top of the list?

2. I would like to know what the full cost to the Grantham/Lincolnshire tax payer is please, including any enhanced payments for unnecessary weekend work.

1. Lincolnshire County Council carries out its highway maintenance duties in accordance with asset management principles based on a risk-based approach. This follows the guidance of the Code of Practice "Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure" which is supported and endorsed by the Department for Transport(DfT) as national best practice.

The Council's approach is laid out in three documents - Highways Asset Management Policy / Highways Asset Strategy / Highways Infrastructure Asset Management Plan (HIAMP).

These documents are freely available to view and scrutinise on the County Council's website by searching under "Highway Asset Management", or at the link above.

Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) would like to reassure you that the HIAMP does not "focus on protecting the good roads" at the expense of others, but forms part of the balanced approach outlined in the above documents. There are three strands to LCC’s maintenance works regime:

Routine - Minor works and patching to maintain the performance of the road. These are required to maintain the integrity of the road until programmed works can be carried out.

Reactive - In response to inspections, public enquiries, or emergencies. These are the least cost effective, and mainly temporary repairs, but are legally required to maintain a safe network for all highway users. Any dangerous potholes would fall into this category and should be repaired in line with LCC’s policies.

Programmed - Resurfacing or reconstruction of carriageways. These minimise cost over time, but are more costly treatments, and are identified and prioritised using machine survey data and deterioration modelling to determine the structural life left in the road. On the surface these may appear as the ones most in need of remedial treatment. The challenge is that underfunding of highway maintenance means that only a proportion of these works can be carried out each year within existing budgets.

All three types of work are required to ensure the best value for highway maintenance’s limited funds. The other key aspect of asset management is that prevention is better than cure. The surface dressing works on the Alma Park Estate are in line with that strategy. Roads wear out over time and micro asphalt is a highly cost-effective way of extending their life and delay the need for more expensive work. Due to oxidisation of bitumen around 20-30 years life is the optimum time to apply a surface treatment. Micro Asphalt costs about 1/5 of the price of simple resurfacing and, bearing in mind the underfunding, enables the Council to improve the condition of road network year on year, by prolonging the life.

2. The total cost of these works was £44,591, and there is no payment from Lincolnshire County Council for weekend working.