Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Transportation and Highways

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Transportation and Highways detailing an additional funding block from Central Government’s Challenge Fund for the maintenance and enhancement of the City's Highway infrastructure. The report was supplementary to the 2020/21 Transportation and Highway Maintenance Capital Programme report to Cabinet on 10th March 2020 (Minute 96/19 referred).

The basic principles for the spend of the additional funding were:

  i.  Focus on improving pavements, predominantly used by vulnerable residents, from place of residence to destination point.

  ii.  Continue the programme of rectifying damage and maintaining the City's pavements, through a prioritised programme based on the Council’s Highways Asset Management plan.

The Department for Transport confirmed the Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund additional funding allocations to the West Midlands Combined Authority area on 15th May 2020. The funding was for critical highway maintenance activity. Based on the EOI submission the allocation made available to Coventry as Highway Maintenance Block was £2.060m, this was predicated on improving roads and pavements on bus routes which used the unclassified roads across the West Midlands. Within Coventry the study showed that Coventry’s pavements were in greater need of maintenance than roads on the lengths of the routes submitted, however where there was a need for road repairs these would be attended to as part of the work. A previous study identified locations where there were likely to be a higher proportion of vulnerable residents based on areas of sheltered housing and proximity to GP surgeries, health centres, shops, churches and meeting halls. Table 1 in the report detailed the sites where these objectives were best met.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1)  Approves £2.06m be added to the 5-year Capital Programme.

2)  Approves the 2020/21 additional programme of schemes detailed in Paragraph 2.6, Table 1 of the report.

3)  Delegates authority to the Cabinet Member for City Services, to approve any changes to the additional 2020/21 programme.