Roads

Dear Mr Harding

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Request Log No. 36838

Thank you for your request for information which we are processing under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This means that you will receive a
full response within 20 working days, either with the information you
requested, or an explanation why we are unable to provide it.

If you have any queries regarding this request, please contact me by email
or telephone as below, quoting your Request Log No. which you will find at
the top of this email.

Regards

Andrea Hawes
Senior Information Management Assistant

Cheshire County Council

Backford Hall

Nr Chester

CH1 6EA

01244 973599

[email address]

www.cheshire.gov.uk

The moment you know they're driving, Kill the conversation - THINK! Mobile
phones and driving don't mix.

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Dear Mr Harding

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Request Log No. 36838

Thank you for your request for information which has been processed under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Thank you for taking the time to give Cheshire County Council the
opportunity to detail the lengths to which we go to ensure that the
Highway Network in Cheshire is maintained.

Q1) How much money was / is spent on highway maintenance in Cheshire
County Council (split by borough) for the 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09
budgetary periods?

A1) Please see the table of values below.

Q2) In the same periods, how many highway inspections were done in
each borough?

A2) Regrettably there is no simple answer to this question, as the
response is dependent on how each of the terms used is defined. Officers
of the County Council and our Contractors inspect elements of the highway
on many occasions throughout the year and for many reasons. However, from
the nature of the other questions you have raised, I think it safe to
assume that the inspections you refer to are safety inspections. Cheshire
County Council employ nine full time highway safety inspectors, whose role
is confined to walking and driving the highway network looking for defects
that trigger the intervention level for repair. The County Council have
employed this number of safety inspections in each of the three years to
which you refer. Highways are inspected at a frequency consistent with
their character and use, for example a busy urban route is surveyed more
often than a minor country lane.

Q3) How many of these highway inspections found a fault with the
road?

A3) For similar reasons to those given in my response to the previous
question it is not easy to respond to the question as posed. For example
the County Council, when ordering repairs to `dangerous hazards' does not
differentiate between those in the footway or road, we record only defects
in the Highway. In recent years Cheshire County Council has ordered in
the region of 20,000 repairs to `dangerous hazards' each year.

Q4) What was the average time during 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 (so
far) from a fault being reported by a member of the public, or discovered
during an inspection to being fixed in each borough?

A4) Members of the public report a wide range of what they consider
to be `faults', but not every `fault' reported by members of the public
qualify for repair, and so the fact that a member of the public reports a
`fault' it does not necessarily follow that a repair is made. It is
impossible for the County Council to calculate an average response time
for repairs that originate from public reports, as there are numerous
means by which the public make contact with the County Council.

Concerning repairs to `dangerous hazards', for repairs ordered by highway
safety inspectors the response time is within 24 hours of the `dangerous
hazard' being discovered, this response time applies also to reports of
defects reported by the public, which, having been investigated are deemed
to qualify as `dangerous hazards'.

Q5) How many claims of vehicle damage due to poor road maintenance
did the council receive during each period for each borough and how much
did the council pay out?

A5) There are many reasons for compensation claims being made and it
would greatly misrepresent the facts if I were to give a response to the
question as posed, as to do so would appear to concede that claims were
made due to `poor road maintenance'. Road maintenance activities
undertaken by contractors employed by Cheshire County Council are not
poor. On rare occasions works on the highway fail, and on these occasions
engineers employed by the highway authority ensure that remedial works are
undertaken at nil cost. In the current financial climate it can be argued
that there is a lack of road maintenance and Cheshire County Council in
common with other Highway Authorities strive to maintain the highways to
the highest standards within the limited funds available to us. I have
provided in the table below, the numbers of vehicle damage claims and the
number of claims made reflect the number where the County Council were
held liable.

2006 / 7
how many how much
Highway vehicle compensation
County Maintenance damage was paid out Number of claims on
District Budget (£) claims which compensation was
paid
Question 1 Question 5
Question 5
Chester £7,015,000 38 £1,011 4
Ellesmere Port £2,095,000 15 £1,864 3
& Neston
Crewe & £8,074,000 53 £1,902 3
Nantwich
Congleton £3,864,000 32 £1,285 4
Macclesfield £7,862,000 126 £1,137 2
Vale Royal £6,152,000 65 £0 0

2007 / 8
how much
Highway how many compensation Number of
County Maintenance vehicle damage was paid out claims on which
District Budget (£) claims Question compensation
5 was paid
Question 1
Question 5
Chester £6,392,000 37 £712 2
Ellesmere Port £1,859,000 14 £2,006 3
& Neston
Crewe & £5,153,000 64 £1,188 5
Nantwich
Congleton £3,408,000 31 £14,053 6
Macclesfield £7,905,000 102 £5,733 6
Vale Royal £5,822,000 67 £21,051 17

2008 / 9
how many how much
Highway vehicle damage compensation Number of
County Maintenance claims (as at was paid out claims on which
District Budget (£) 6th February (as at 31st compensation
2009) Question December 2008) was paid
Question 1 5
Question 5
Chester £6,355,000 37 £897 1
Ellesmere Port £1,557,000 12 £211 1
& Neston
Crewe & £4,170,000 75 £330 2
Nantwich
Congleton £2,709,000 27 £0 0
Macclesfield £6,662,000 87 £1,621 6
Vale Royal £4,835,000 56 £0 0

If you have any further enquiries please contact me by email or telephone
as below, quoting your Request Log No. which you will find at the top of
this email.

Regards

Andrea Hawes

Senior Information Management Assistant

Cheshire County Council

Backford Hall

Nr Chester

CH 6EA

01244 973599

[1][email address]

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