Agenda item

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure which presented the progress on the production of an Asset Management Plan for the Council, which was being produced in accordance with a nationwide project by the Society of Chief Officers for Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS).

An overview of the financial position of the roads maintenance budget over recent years was provided. It was highlighted that this budget had been declining whilst the amount of road had been increasing, and therefore concluded that the roads maintenance had been significantly underfunded for at least the last 20 years.  In light of this position it was advised that Roads Asset Management presented a best value approach to the safeguarding of the most value and vital asset in the Council’s remit and without which the City would not be able to support its economic wellbeing.  The methodology of property management was applied in this engineering context to ensure the various assets which the Council was responsible for were managed and maintained in as cost effective manner as possible to make best use of limited resources.  Experience of this approach in other areas has shown that savings of 5% in roads maintenance budgets could be achieved. However, it was emphasised that whilst this approach could lead to more effective use of funds underfunding of budgets would still fail to achieve results expected by citizens and road users. 

Details of the methodology used by the Plan was outlined wherein it was advised that the assets would be identified, quantified and valued at Gross Replacement Cost, (GRC).  The approach, which had been recommended by Cipfa, and approved by the Treasury, represented a fundamental re-evaluation of the Council’s transportation assets resulting in an upward re-appraisal of the assets book value by an order of magnitude.  The current asset value calculated on historical investment was close to £100 million whilst the value calculated on the GRC basis was nearly £1000 million.

In terms of the current status of the implementation of the plan, it was advised that a project under the stewardship of SCOTS and in partnership with EXP Consulting had been developed to establish a common approach for all the authorities across the country and to seek best practice methods for providing a methodology that was fully fit for purpose and met the expectations of transport users as expressed through their elected representatives.  By the end of the project, the approach would have been integrated into the Council’s Roads Management function and would represent the basic tool not merely for reporting the annual budget process but for carrying out all aspects of Roads Management and Maintenance.  Appendix 1 to the report provided an indication of the current state of progress with the SCOTS project.

Finally, with regards moving forward, it was advised that local authorities were to submit their rudimentary drafts for discussion and comparison at the workshops with a view to completing all Council’s Plans to a comparable format;  it was anticipated that a further report would be submitted in early 2011 informing the Council of progress with the Plan and presenting the first full draft as a method for establishing and evaluating the budget for Roads Maintenance.  By the Autumn of 2011, the Plan should be finalized and will form the basis for the budget process for Roads Maintenance for 2012/13.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the content of the initial draft Roads Asset Management Plan and to continue to participate in the SCOTS project.