Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Thursday, 20 May 2010

Street Lighting-Private Finance Initiative

Cabinet was advised that both Stockton on Tees and Durham County Council had been successful in their joint submission of a bid to receive Private Finance Initiative funding (PFI) to secure the replacement of approximately 124,000 units including street lights, illuminated and non-illuminated highway signs and bollards. This included approximately 30,000 units within Stockton. The Councils had been provisionally awarded £125.47M PFI credits in total, with Stockton's share around £32M. The Councils' bid was one of only six that had been approved nationally.

The Councils would now work jointly on the submission of an Outline Business Case (OBC) to be submitted to the Government's Department for Transport by the end of June. Costs associated with the development of the OBC were likely to be in the region of £200 to 300K, inclusive of contingency sums. This, in Stockton's case, would be funded from Managed Surpluses already contained within the Medium Term Financial Plan. Any costs through the development of the PFI would be split between Durham and Stockton on a 75% to 25% nominal split. This was based proportionally around the numbers of street lighting assets each Council has. Further details on this development can be obtained from Brian Buckley, Council's Highway Network Manager, tel 01642 526703; e-mail Brian.Buckley@stockton.gov.uk.

Winter Damage-Highway Repair Strategy

Cabinet was also provided with an update on the impact that the prolonged severe winter weather had had on the Borough's highway network, together with a suggested action plan to deal with the impact which would require additional funding to address the inordinate number of repairs required across the Borough.

It was explained that Officers had been working since January of this year using inspection regimes, communication with Ward Councillors and public reports to identify the additional maintenance needs. To date, the cost to repair the damage from winter weather alone was in the region of £500K.

Members noted that in order to respond to the many complaints that had been received and to ensure highway safety was maintained, Direct Services had continued to carry out responsive repairs over and above their usual maintenance activities. This had led to a pressure on the existing maintenance budgets in the year 2009/10.

The Government's budget statement of March 2010 allocated £100M of additional support for Local Authorities to aid repairs as a result of the winter weather damage. The allocation to each Authority was based on the formula used to determine capital maintenance allocations, which is predominately factored on road lengths. For Stockton-on-Tees, this equated to £208,700.00 grant to be made available this financial year 2010. Any opportunities for further Government support were not available.

In order for the Council to effectively deal with the winter backlog, Cabinet recommended to Council that it provide the further resources required in the region of £300K to meet the estimated £500K demand for winter maintenance repairs.

For further details regarding the Council's plans to address the damage caused to the Borough's roads by the recent bad weather , contact Brian Buckley, Council's Highway Network Manager, tel 01642 526703; e-mail Brian.Buckley@stockton.gov.uk.