The Department for Transport (DfT) has asked the National Winter Service Research Group (NWSRG) to consider widening its remit to cover issues of extreme weather and flooding, Transport Network can reveal.
Chris Cranston, operations and communications manager at Devon County Council, was recently made the chair of the NWSRG, which gives him a position on the UK Roads Board.
He told Transport Network that the UK Roads Board asked NWSRG to consider the move to cover extreme weather, although nothing has been decided yet.
Mr Cranston said: ‘We are still in discussions with the DfT about it. We recognise that it is a sensible group to consider the [wider] area. We have not yet formally accepted that we would take on the role and we have a full workload in getting the winter code of practice together at the moment, which is our priority.’
Following the publication of the new code of practice, Well-managed Highway Infrastructure, the major part of the national guidance for winter service will now reside with the NWSRG’s Practical Guide for Winter Service.
The previous Appendix H guidance has been removed from the code, but the scope of the NWSRG work incorporates all of the issues dealt with in Appendix H and goers further, covering winter service delivery far more widely and in greater detail.
‘We are certainly not denying the possibility of us taking this on but at the moment all our effort needs to go into dealing with the guidance for the new code [replacing Appendix H]. We have more updates coming out in the summer. There will be an update on de-icing practice. We are also reviewing some of the elements of spread rates.
‘My view about the code and Appendix H, is that it has had a tremendous impact in getting people aware of the issues and improving standards in the authorities and certainly getting people to upskill their winter service operations and understand the issues and put plans in lace. But there have been some areas that have been a bit more controversial; we have had some very useful feedback from users and some areas that we are reviewing.
‘There are also one or two areas where things are a bit dated – there is a decision matrix that has been there for probably 10 or 15 years and it is not quite consistent and we are trying to get that up to date and get it right. We are hoping to get to a point where we can issue some further guidance to members and then later in the year get it in the stage where we can publish it. We have published updates along the way.’
Now that the NWSRG has a more public guidance, it is keen to address the issue of member benefits and ensure that members can influence priorities and research topics and will be carrying out an engagement process.
Carol Valentine, highways manager at Kent County Council and deputy chair of the NWSRG, said a move to widen its remit could strengthen the group but it would have to ensure it had the capacity to step into the new role. She pointed out that wind and rain events are currently being seen every year, whereas prolonged snow events happen in more of a five-year time frame, suggesting that the sector needs to give consideration to wider extreme weather issues.
Ms Valentine added that the NWSRG would have to consider how it would works with key partners such as the Environment Agency if it did widen the remit. There was some debate in the sector however about the idea. One senior industry source on trunk road operation was more lukewarm, suggesting to Transport Network that the NWSRG should concentrate on its core issues.
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