Final Report National Roads Maintenance Review June 2012
1 Introduction
Scotland's road network, at over 55,000 km, is one of the country's largest local and national assets, encompassing all roads, footways, cycleways, bridges, street lighting and road drainage, signage and markings It plays a vital role in supporting Scotland's economy by facilitating the movement of people, goods and services and connecting people with economic opportunities, often providing a focal point and sense of place. On a local level, the road network is essential for the long-term sustainability and development of Scotland's communities and the well-being of its residents.
In the last 15 years, total road usage has increased by almost 30%; trunk roads usage has risen almost 40%, whilst the increase in the use of Scotland's local authority roads rose by around 20%[1]. Combined with a forecast traffic growth of 25% between 2005 and 2022[2], there will be an impact on the level of maintenance required on the Scottish road network. Although there is a focus on reducing emissions, reducing traffic congestion and increasing the proportion of journeys made by public or active transport, the higher the volume and weight of traffic, particularly HGVs, means that more frequent and more extensive maintenance is required to sustain the road's lifespan.
Audit Scotland identified that there has been deterioration in the condition of the network[3]. In 2005, 70% of Scotland's local authority roads were considered to be in an acceptable condition but, by 2010, this has fallen to 66%. The current condition on trunk roads is marginally better, but deteriorating faster. In 2006 the percentage of trunk roads in acceptable condition stood at 84% whereas, by 2010, this had fallen to 78%. These results are indicative of the reduction in purchasing power of roads authorities' budgets over that period as identified by Audit Scotland.
Recent severe winters have also damaged the network. Whilst these particular events may not be specifically related to climate change, there is no doubt that our changing climate will have consequences that will add to the cost of maintaining our roads.
Scottish public spending in 2011-12 was reduced by £1.3 billion, with capital reduced by 22.9%. Based on UK Government spending plans, it could take until 2025-26 for the Scottish Government budget to return to 2009-10 levels, a cumulative loss of around £40 billion[4]. This aspect is successfully illustrated by Figure 2.2 in the Christie Commission[5] report, from which is included herein as Figure 1.
Figure 1: Extract from Christie Commission report illustrative outlook for Departmental Expenditure Limits.
Within this context, and with pressures on all public sector budgets, the prospect of an injection of significant additional funding for road maintenance across Scotland is difficult to envisage. However without sustained increased investment to help address the maintenance backlog, further deterioration in the condition of our roads is inevitable.
The Scottish Government's 2012-13 budget publication also notes "We will implement the bold and imaginative programme of renewal and reform necessary to maintain the quality of public services that the people of Scotland expect and want. In doing so, we will focus all of Scotland's public bodies on transforming their operations to deliver radical service improvements, targeted to secure better outcomes for individuals and their communities".
This clearly signals an expectation on all public services to be bold and creative in delivering value in a challenging climate.
The Christie Commission Report[6] highlights the benefits of longer term strategic planning and early interventions to achieve better outcomes. The principles put forward by Christie are:
- Reforms must aim to empower individuals and communities receiving public services, by involving them in the design and delivery of the services they use;
- Public service providers must be required to work much more closely in partnership, to integrate service provision and thus improve the outcomes they achieve;
- Prioritise expenditure on public services which prevent negative outcomes from arising.
Although the Christie Commission Report covers a wide remit, encompassing the public sector as a whole and a variety of policy subjects, some of its recommendations have a direct relevance to this Review.
In particular, Christie recommends, among other things:
- The preparation of long-term asset management plans;
- The whole system of public services - public, third and private sectors - must become more efficient by reducing duplication and sharing services wherever possible;
- The design of services with and for people and communities - not delivered 'top down' for administrative convenience;
- Prioritising preventative measures to reduce demand and lessen inequalities;
- Tightening oversight and accountability of public services, introducing consistent data-gathering and performance comparators, to improve services;
- Driving continuing reform across all public services based on outcomes, improved performance and cost reduction;
- Implementing better long-term strategic planning, including greater transparency around major budget decisions;
- That public service providers demonstrate clearly how their expenditure is driving the achievement of better outcomes through coordinated, collaborative working;
- That public service providers undertake regular benchmarking against comparable services and report publicly and annually on outcomes achieved and financial performance; and
- A rebalancing of procurement and commissioning from cost efficiency towards effectiveness, with contracts focusing on promoting positive outcomes
Audit Scotland estimated the cost of the backlog across the whole of the Scottish roads network to amount to around some £2.25 billion[7]; £1.54 billion for local authority roads and £0.713 billion for trunk roads (including bridges).
However, this is only a partial assessment of the cost. It does not include the backlog costs for local authority bridges and other assets, nor does it include additional costs to comply with equalities legislation, to ensure resilience or, the costs of adapting the network to meet climate change, sustainability and other challenges.
As with all of Scotland's public services, securing funding to maintain roads at even their 2008 levels of service will require strong, compelling evidence. It is likely that a combination of productivity improvements and efficiency savings, changes in standards or levels of service can deliver some efficiencies. Significant additional investment will, however, be required to deal with the backlog and deliver a sustainable road asset for future generations.
The Scottish Government has signalled that it expects the public sector to "support maintenance of assets in our key public services and encourage a collaborative approach to asset management"[8]. This suggests that the sector should consider both short-term efficiencies alongside radical steps to deliver an effective and well-maintained road network.
1.2 Purpose of the National Roads Maintenance Review
A deteriorating road network impacts on sustainable economic growth. It adds to business costs, personal travel costs and has the potential to reduce safety, environmental amenity and social cohesion.
The Audit Scotland report made a number of recommendations that were accepted by the then Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Audit Scotland's central recommendation was to consider a national review on how the road network is managed and maintained, with a view to stimulating service redesign and increasing the pace of examining the potential for shared services.
This Review aimed to identify how those responsible for, and working in, Scotland's roads maintenance sector can deliver efficiently managed roads for all within the budgets available, and identify opportunities for innovation, collaborative working and the sharing of services. The review also considered how the Scottish Government could work better with local authorities, and what can be learned from international road management practice.
The Review covers the whole of the road asset including the road carriageway (all the layers that make up a road) and adjoining footways, cycleways, bridges, retaining walls, culverts, verges, signing and lighting.
Figure 2 shows an overview of the process that was used to take forward the Review and the respective timescales between March 2011 and June 2012.
Figure 2:Process used to take forward this Review
A Steering Group was established to take forward the Review in partnership. The Steering Group members are senior officer representatives from Transport Scotland, COSLA, SOLACE, SCOTS, the Scottish Road Works Commissioner as listed in Appendix A
The Review has been undertaken in three phases. Phases 1 & 2 are summarised below and progress on Phase 3 is included in Chapter 2.
Phase 1 of the Review focused on gathering evidence, capturing emerging themes and identifying broadly defined recommendations to drive change. The Steering Group established four Working Groups covering the key areas of the Review:
- how standards and asset management techniques influence the maintenance of assets including all roads, footways, lighting and structures;
- what opportunities exist for technology and productivity innovation, and whether there are strategic mechanisms to address potential barriers to innovation;
- where resourcing of maintenance could be improved, including consideration of current and possible new approaches to sharing services and collaboration between authorities; and
- the economic, social and environmental impacts of deteriorating roads, footways etc.
The Working Groups, jointly chaired by SCOTS and Transport Scotland, gathered evidence on current and best practice from both UK and international experience in the sector. In parallel, the Working Groups began to identify potential options for improving the delivery of road maintenance in Scotland.
In particular, they assessed the current baseline conditions and highlighted examples of best practice in delivery and innovative approaches. This was to ensure Scotland's roads maintenance community can rise to the challenges of severe financial pressures, deteriorating road quality, rising road usage and growing road user expectations.
As the first phase concluded, a number of common themes began to emerge and these were aired and debated at a stakeholder event in June 2011.
Theme 1 - Effective Asset Management
Theme 2 - Prioritisation
Theme 3 - Benchmarking and Monitoring
Theme 4 - Delivery models
Theme 5 - Incentivising Innovation
Theme 6 - Enabling faster change
Theme 7 - Communication
These seven emerging themes were developed from the evidence gathered by the Working Groups and each generated a number of options for further consideration which were presented in the Phase 1 report in September 2011[9]. Many of the recommendations directly addressed issues raised in the Audit Scotland report. A total of 85 options were identified and taken forward to Phase 2.
Phase 2 of the Review built upon the themes, recommendations and options developed in Phase 1. It also explored the wider economic, social and environmental impacts of road maintenance and developed a strategic framework for change.
An assessment was undertaken to determine the impacts of reducing roads maintenance spending across the Scottish road network. This examined different spending scenarios over 20 years and concluded that spending £1 on road maintenance results in a £1.50 benefit to the wider Scottish economy and society demonstrating that spending on road maintenance clearly delivers economic and social benefits to Scotland. The study also identified an array of impacts which are difficult to quantify but are thought to be of equal significance to users and so have a wider effect on society.
Based on the key themes and recommendations from Phase 1 and the output of the analysis on the economic, social and environmental impacts of road maintenance, a strategic framework was developed to help road authorities shape a change in practices. This framework set out seven "Developments" aimed at embedding best practice across road maintenance in Scotland and ensuring best value with existing resources and arrangements. They also help demonstrate the alignment of the sector with the Christie Commission recommendations on preventative spend.
- D1 - Robust asset management planning
- D2 - More than one provider or supplier to ensure meaningful comparison
- D3 -Appropriate outcome-focused benchmarks and KPIs to illustrate efficient performance
- D4 - Appropriate monitoring to demonstrate transparency
- D5 -Appropriate incentivisation to encourage behavioural change and innovation
- D6 - SMART targets
- D7 - Ability to generate additional continuous improvement to ensure innovation and collaboration are the norm
The framework also contained three "enhancements" to assist Roads Authorities in strengthening their business case for additional investment in road maintenance.
- En8 - Increased certainty of even short-term finance
- En9 - Value-driven collaboration to deliver economies of scale eg, resources, funding, management, skills and specialisms, assets and plant
- En10 - Enhanced levels of scrutiny to ensure delivery of outcomes
A detailed review of the 85 options developed in Phase 1 was carried out. It became clear to the Steering Group that some options were already being implemented, while .other options would not meet the objectives of the Review, were outside the agreed scope or were duplicates or subsets of another option. A sifting of options by the Steering Group to affirm their relevance and potential effectiveness consolidated their number to 30.
The options were grouped into three categories:
- Implement - 9 options. These were suitable for wider and immediate implementation, as evidence suggested they were proven improvements or would deliver immediate benefits at little additional cost.
- Additional research to be undertaken - 16 options. These were deemed to merit further research, as the wider professional opinion from the Working and Steering Groups is that they had potential for delivering significant benefits. The need for additional research arises because the options were insufficiently defined or there was insufficient evidence to support their immediate implementation.
- Further economic assessment required - 5 options. An interim, high-level economic evaluation was carried out which confirmed that net economic and financial benefits had been realised from a number of case studies. To ensure these were appropriately scalable to a wider Scottish context, it was considered that further economic appraisal may be required.
The strategic framework and list of options for further consideration was presented at a Roads Summit in November 2011 attended by representatives from Scottish Local Authorities. The Phase 2 report [10] was endorsed by the Minister for Housing and Transport and COSLA in November 2011.