Highway Reinstatement Standards, Specifications and Warranty

The request was partially successful.

Dear Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council,

I note that a significant amount of the defects in the highway occur at the sites of reinstatements following highway works/utility works. Repairing these defects must be a significant drain on council resources and taxpayers money.

1. Where a person/contractor/utility company conducts work on and highway adopted to by the authority what are the minimum standards / specification to which the highway must be reinstated? Please give details of materials (i.e. Bitmacs, aggregates, sealants etc), treatments (stabilising, top dressing, lineing etc) and processes (compaction, installation of bitmac).
To put this question a different way, if I wished to open the highway to what standard would I be required to reinstate it?

2. Must reinstatements be warranted/guaranteed? If yes give details of length and minimum conditions.

3. Where there are no standard specs/conditions please give details of the standard / quality of reinstatement that the council required contractors to achieve in works carried out on:-
i) Snowdon Drive, Pennine Road, Brownlow Road and Longworth Road, Horwich in 2017 (one set of works) by ENW

ii) Crompton Way between Bk Tonge Moor Road and Green Way, Tonge Ward in Autumn 2017 – National Grid/Cadent.

iii) Please disclose documents as sent to the above i &ii with the final spec

4. Do the council inspect reinstatements? If so All, or Dip Sampled? Where is this inspection recorded?

5. Since 2014 how many occasions have the council
i) Required rectification of a failed/failing reinstatement
ii) Recovered costs of making good a substandard/failed reinstatements

Yours faithfully,

Ian Bolton

Freedom Of Info, Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Ian Bolton

I acknowledge with thanks your request for information held by Bolton
Council received at this office on 21 May 2018.

This request will be considered under the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIR) and may take up to 20 working days to be processed
(although we will endeavour to provide the information as quickly as
possible).

Please retain the reference number RFI 000764 for any future enquiries
regarding this matter.

Many thanks

The Information Governance Team

This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be
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If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then
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Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any views expressed in this
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the views of Bolton Council.

http://www.bolton.gov.uk/

Freedom Of Info, Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Ian Bolton
 
Request for information under the Environmental Information Regulations
2004
        
In response to your request for information received at this office on 21
May 2018, please see the Council’s response below.
 
You requested
 

 1. Where a person/contractor/utility company conducts work on and highway
adopted to by the authority what are the minimum standards /
specification to which the highway must be reinstated? Please give
details of materials (i.e. Bitmacs, aggregates, sealants etc),
treatments (stabilising, top dressing, lineing etc) and processes
(compaction, installation of bitmac).

To put this question a different way, if I wished to open the highway to
what standard would I be required to reinstate it?

 2. Must reinstatements be warranted/guaranteed? If yes give details of
length and minimum conditions.
 3. Where there are no standard specs/conditions please give details of
the standard / quality of reinstatement that the council required
contractors to achieve in works carried out on:-   

i. Snowdon Drive, Pennine Road, Brownlow Road and Longworth Road, Horwich
in 2017 (one set of works) by ENW
ii. Crompton Way between Bk Tonge Moor Road and Green Way, Tonge Ward in
Autumn  2017 – National Grid/Cadent.
iii. Please disclose documents as sent to the above i &ii with the final
spec

 
In response to questions 1-3, we consider that the information is exempt
from disclosure under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004
(EIR).
 
In this case, the requested information is being withheld since we
consider that the exception under Regulation 6(1) applies to it.
Regulation 6(1) provides an exception where the requested information is
already publicly and easily accessible:
 
“Where an applicant requests that the information be made available in a
particular form or format, a public authority shall make it so available,
unless –
(a) it is reasonable for it to make the information available in another
form or format; or
(b) the information is already publicly and easily accessible to the
applicant in another form or format”
 
All highway/utility works should be reinstated in accordance with the
Department for Transport  “Specification for the Reinstatement of Openings
in Highways (third edition)”. The guarantee period for highway/utility
works is also specified within this document. A copy of this document can
be downloaded from the government website via the link below.
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
 
The application of Regulation 6(1) can be justified at this stage and in
accordance with the Regulations, this is a Refusal Notice for this part of
your request.
 

 4. Do the council inspect reinstatements? If so All, or Dip Sampled?
Where is this inspection recorded?

 
Completed inspections are recorded in the  Greater Manchester Road
Activities Permit Scheme (GMRAPS)  street works system.
 
We consider that the other information requested in question 4 is exempt
from disclosure under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004
(EIR).
 
Reinstatements in the highway are inspected in accordance with the
Department for Transport  “Code of Practice for Inspections”. A copy of
the document can be downloaded from the government website via the link
below.
[2]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
 
The application of Regulation 6(1) can be justified at this stage and in
accordance with the Regulations, this is a Refusal Notice for this part of
your request.
 

 5. Since 2014 how many occasions have the council

i. Required rectification of a failed/failing reinstatement

 
Since 2014 Bolton Council has issued  5,173  defect notices requiring
remedial works to defective reinstatements.
 

ii. Recovered costs of making good a substandard/failed reinstatements

 
All the remedial works,  referred to in Question i) above, were undertaken
by the individual works promoter in all instances.  Therefore, Bolton
Council did not incur any costs associated with these remedial works.
 
Should you disagree with our decision, you may appeal to:
The Borough Solicitor, Bolton Council, Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU
Email:  [3][email address]
 
Should you further disagree with the decision following the appeal you may
wish to contact the Information Commissioner:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF
[4]www.ico.gov.uk
Tel: 01625 545700, Fax: 01625 524510
 
Should you have any queries, please contact [5][email address]
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Information Governance Officer
Information Governance Team
1^st Floor, Town Hall
Bolton, BL1 1RU
 
 
 
 
 
This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be
legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee.
If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then
immediately, permanently delete it. Do not read, print, re-transmit, store
or act in reliance on it. This e-mail may be monitored by Bolton Council
in accordance with current regulations.

This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses currently known to Bolton Council.
However, the recipient is responsible for virus-checking before opening
this message and any attachment.

Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any views expressed in this
message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect
the views of Bolton Council.

http://www.bolton.gov.uk/

References

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