Footway deterioration performance indicator scrapped

17 October 2007

The Government has scrapped the best value performance indicator on reducing footway deterioration, making it uncertain whether councils will need to monitor unclassified road condition.

Engineers were relieved that national indicators for carriageways had not been removed, but remained concerned about losing national scrutiny of the progress being made on important parts of the highway network.

Communities secretary, Hazel Blears, said reducing the current 1,200 indicators to 198 would give ‘councils major new freedoms to direct their focus and resources at the issues local people care about, from tackling anti-social behaviour to tackling climate change’.

But Lester Willmington, chair of the County Surveyors’ Society highways management committee, regretted ‘losing important bits of the highways asset from national indicators on council performance’.

It appeared that that the two new national highway indicators NI168 and NI169 were replacing the best value performance indicators 223 and 224a, said Willmington. This means both footways and unclassified roads will now fall outside national assessment.

‘Unclassified roads form the bulk of shire counties’ networks, while footways are used in most journeys,’ he said, hoping that authorities would continue to collect data locally.

There was also the additional uncertainty that the national indicators would be adopted locally, with Local Area Agreements only required to select 35 of the 198 indicators to reflect their priorities, Willmington added.

A spokesman for the London Technical Advisers Group said it would be ‘a bit of a dirty trick’ to remove unclassified roads.

‘To remove parts of the network that are in the worst state while reducing revenue funding would be severely disappointing,’ he said.

The Department for Transport was already asserting that it was on track to remove the maintenance backlog because principal road condition was improving, the spokesman noted, adding: ‘It’s a fudge’. But LoTAG claimed that with the high-profile given to the state of London’s well-trodden footways, it was ‘unlikely’ they would receive any less attention.

Yet Living Streets policy co-ordinator, Rob Cann, disputed this. ‘The buck needs to stop somewhere. It’s all very well saying there’s a political imperative to ensure that footways are in a good state in areas of high use, but what happens outside those areas?’

Cann said Living Streets ‘hears all the time’ from members and supporters about problems with footways deterring people from walking.

‘If you’re able bodied, then a rocking paving slab probably won’t present you with too many difficulties,’ said Cann. ‘But neglecting footways can condemn the elderly and disabled to staying indoors.’

The only other two national indicators covering local transport which have been retained cover bus patronage and congestion, as measured by peak-hour journey time delay.

Register now for full access

Register just once to get unrestricted, real-time coverage of the issues and challenges facing UK transport and highways engineers.

Full website content includes the latest news, exclusive commentary from leading industry figures and detailed topical analysis of the highways, transportation, environment and place-shaping sectors. Use the link below to register your details for full, free access.

Already a registered? Login

Sign In

Footway deterioration performance indicator scrapped

order biaxin tablets

buying biaxin

ordering clarithromycin

Register now for full access

Login