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London Borough of Barnet Improving Barnet Roads Highway Maintenance Inspection Manual Job Number: 60672 Doc Ref: 60672_A Author: Antoine Aubert Page 1 of 52
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Page 1: Foreword - WhatDoTheyKnow - Make and browse … · Web viewPEM is used to record the details and status of all the requests for skips, scaffolding, hoarding licences, and cross over

London Borough of BarnetImproving Barnet Roads

Highway Maintenance Inspection Manual

Job Number: 60672Doc Ref: 60672_AAuthor: Antoine Aubert

Document HistoryRevision Purpose Originated Checked Approved DateN/A First Issue AA AA/MC/PB PB Dec 12A Minor Amendments AA AA/MC/PB PB Jan 13

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Contents

1. Foreword..............................................................................................4

2. Introduction..........................................................................................5

3. Legislative, National, and Local Frameworks...................................63.1 Highway Act 1980.................................................................................63.2 The Traffic Management Act 2004.......................................................63.3 The New Roads & Street Works Act 1991............................................73.4 Code of Practice “Well Maintained Highways”......................................83.5 Highway Asset Management Plan (HAMP)..........................................9

4. Record Keeping...................................................................................94.1 Bentley/Exor Atlas................................................................................94.2 Maintenance Manager........................................................................104.3 Public Enquiry Manager (PEM)..........................................................114.4 TMA....................................................................................................114.5 UKPMS...............................................................................................11

5. Asset Inventory and Classification..................................................125.1 Asset Inventory...................................................................................125.2 Road Hierarchy...................................................................................12

6. Safety Inspections.............................................................................156.1 Overview.............................................................................................156.2 Inspection Frequency (Cyclic)............................................................166.3 Inspection Regime (Reactive).............................................................186.4 Resource Requirement (Cyclic and reactive).....................................196.5 Items for Inspection and Investigatory Levels (Cyclic and Reactive). 206.6 Defects Categorisation, Type, and Response times (Cyclic and

Reactive).............................................................................................236.7 Defect Correction (Cyclic and Reactive).............................................256.8 Performance Monitoring (Cyclic and Reactive)..................................266.9 Budgets...............................................................................................286.10 Staff Training......................................................................................286.11 Method Statement for Safety Inspections...........................................29

7. Service Inspections...........................................................................307.1 Overview.............................................................................................307.2 Street Lighting Inspections (serviceability).........................................317.3 Tree Inspections (serviceability).........................................................327.4 Drainage Inspections (serviceability)..................................................327.5 Waiting and Loading Restrictions (integrity).......................................327.6 London Permitting Scheme TMA 2004 (regulatory)...........................327.7 Highway Act 1980 (regulatory)...........................................................34

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Appendix A: Road Hierarchy and Town Centres Locations.....................35

Appendix B: Inspectors Beat Areas...........................................................36

List of Diagrams and Tables

Table 5.1: Carriageway Hierarchy...............................................................................................................13Table 5.2: Footway Hierarchy......................................................................................................................14Table 5.3: Cycle Route Hierarchy................................................................................................................14Table 6.1: Cyclic Safety Inspection Frequencies by Asset Class (source: CoP)........................................16Table 6.2: Ward allocation for cyclic inspection teams................................................................................19Table 6.3: Defect items and investigatory levels.........................................................................................23

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1. Foreword The highway network is one of the Councils most valuable assets.

Through regeneration and infrastructure improvement it is continuing to expand and therefore increasing in value. Keeping the network in good condition is a huge challenge given rising travel demand and traffic flow. The purpose of highway maintenance is to maintain the highway network for the safe, convenient and efficient movement of people and goods.

The Department for Transport (DfT) Code of Practice (CoP) “Well Maintained Highways” provide guidance for highway authorities on how to discharge their responsibilities and deliver an efficient, effective and economic highway maintenance service. The procedures adopted by the Council in preparing this inspection manual are inspired from the latest revision of the CoP with practical amendments made to reflect local circumstance. Relevant extracts from the CoP have been placed into this document as appropriate.

The purpose of this manual is to provide a reference for Highway Maintenance Inspections to ensure a consistent approach and standards across the borough. It is designed as guidance to its Highways Inspectors, managers, and other LB Barnet Highways staff carrying out Maintenance related Inspections on the network. Note that although they are mentioned in this manual for completeness, condition surveys are detailed in the Highway Assets Management Plan (HAMP).

The adoption of the robust defect inspection, recording, and rectification regime for safety inspection set out in this manual will minimise the risk of claims for damages against the Council which are costly and a significant drain on limited resources. In 2011 the Councils repudiation rate was 75%. Over the past five year the cost of settling and defending these claims averages £567,000 per annum.

This manual will also help to inform Councillors, the public and other stakeholders of the Council’s approach to the maintenance of the highway network and response to identified defects.

This manual is primarily focussed on the regime for highway safety inspections although it does cover the basic arrangements for service inspections, and condition surveys.

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2. Introduction The establishment of an effective regime of inspection, assessment and

recording is the most crucial component of highway maintenance. The characteristics of the regime, including frequency of inspection, items to be recorded and nature of response, should be defined following an assessment of the relative risks associated with potential circumstances of network condition. These are set in the context of the authority’s overall policy and maintenance strategy.

This inspection, assessment and recording regime provide the basic information for addressing the core objectives of highway maintenance namely; safety, serviceability and sustainability. It also provides the basic condition data for the development of programmes for maintenance as part of the council’s Highway Assets Management Plan (HAMP).

Inspections and surveys will be considered in the following categories:

Safety Inspections – These are designed to identify all defects likely to create danger or serious inconvenience to users of the network or the wider community. The risks of those defects are assessed and remedial actions taken based on the danger they pause to road users. .

Service Inspections - These mainly comprise more detailed inspections tailored to the requirements of particular highway elements to ensure that they meet requirements for serviceability. The category also includes inspections looking at network integrity and those carried out inspections for regulatory purposes to maintain network availability and reliability.

Condition Surveys - These are primarily intended to identify deficiencies in the highway fabric which, if untreated, are likely to adversely affect its long term performance and serviceability. Condition data is analysed and used to assist with the development of the Planned Maintenance Programme. Authorities are also required to undertake condition surveys in order to satisfy the requirements of statutory performance indicators but they are not statutorily obliged to undertake inspections of all highway elements under all of these categories. Condition surveys are detailed in the HAMP.

This Manual will first review the legislative framework surrounding highways maintenance inspections. Having established this legal base it will then review the asset classification definitions used in cataloguing the network and provide some information and procedures relating to each type of inspections. Record keeping, inspection methods, resource needs, performance management, training health and safety and training requirements will be covered as relevant in each section.

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3. Legislative, National, and Local Frameworks3.1 Highway Act 1980

There is a legal requirement under Section 36 to maintain a list of adopted roads (roads maintainable at public expense).

Under Section 41 the Council has a statutory duty to maintain all adopted roads. Neglecting this duty could lead to claims against the Council for damages resulting from failure to maintain the highway.

All Authorities are therefore strongly advised to undertake safety inspections in accordance with the principles of the Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance so that, where necessary, they are able to support a defence under Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980. This requires that a court shall have regard to

‘whether the highway authority knew or could reasonably be expected to know, that the condition of the part of the highway to which the action relates was likely to cause danger to users of the highway’.

Section 58 also states that the court shall in particular have regard for:

o The character of the highway and the traffic which was reasonably to be expected to use it.

o The standard of maintenance appropriate for a highway of that character and use by such traffic.

o That state of repair in which a reasonable person would have expected to find the highway.

o Whether the Authority knew or could reasonably have been expected to know that the condition of the highway was likely to cause danger to users

o Whether warning notices were displayed when immediate repair could not reasonably be expected

A robust inspection regime facilitates an excellent service for road users and provides evidence to show that the highway authority has acted reasonably. It is therefore vital that the Council categorises and documents all roads and footpaths for inspection together with the frequency of inspection and the intervention criteria for repairing defects.

3.2 The Traffic Management Act 2004

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The Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) placed a statutory requirement on highway authorities called the Network Management Duty (NMD). This duty made highway authorities responsible for three main areas.

o Appoint a Traffic Manager

o To secure the expeditious movement of traffic on the authority’s road network.

o To facilitate the expeditious movement of traffic on road networks for which another authority is the traffic authority.

All local authorities were encouraged to use all powers available to carry out their Network Management Duty. Failure to deliver an authority's NMD could result in central government issuing an intervention order.

This order would set out the requirements for improvements within a set time. Further failure could result in central government appointing a Traffic Director to carry out the functions of the Council’s Traffic Manager. The associated cost for any required information or appointment would be met by the failing authority.

The Act 2004 (TMA) also introduced a permit scheme in which highway promoters including the Council would need to obtain a permit to work. The permit scheme replaces the noticing regime under NRSWA with the main difference being that a highway promoter would have to ask when they could work in a street as opposed to just informing them when they were going to work and the highway authority being able to apply conditions to the permit.

Barnet applied to the Department for Transport in October 2009 to operate a London Permit Scheme (LoPS) and was granted permission via a statutory instrument, which came into force on 11th January 2010.

3.3 The New Roads & Street Works Act 1991

The New Roads and Street Work Act 1991 (NRSWA) sets out the legal framework for work promoters and aims to balance everyone’s needs. It focuses around three main criteria.

o Safety

o Co-ordination

o Protecting the integrity of the highway

The 1991 Act introduced strict codes of practice for these three key areas and gave highway authorities additional powers and responsibilities, which were to be carried out as a statutory requirement.

Utility Companies have a legal right to place their apparatus within the public highway but they have a statutory duty under the noticing regime

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to notify the Highway Authority of their intention to work. They must work safely and restore the highway to an acceptable level. Local builders have no statutory right to work on the highway and those who want to place/retain and thereafter inspect/maintain apparatus in the highway must obtain a street works licence.

The two statutory duties under NRSWA:

o Co-ordinate all Street Works and Highway Activities on the highway.

o Inspect utility companies’ works and reinstatements.

Although inspections relating to works being carried out on the public highway are the direct responsibility of the street works inspectors there is an overlap between defects identified in relation to these works and those identified by highway inspectors as part of safety or service inspections.

3.4 Code of Practice “Well Maintained Highways”

The Code of Practice (CoP) “Well maintained Highways” is the main guidance available to guide local highway authorities to assist them in discharging their duties in an effective manner. The following objectives are stated in the CoP;

o To encourage the development, adoption and regular review of policies for highway maintenance, consistent with the wider principles of integrated transport, sustainability and best value;

o To encourage a focus on the needs of users and the community, and their active involvement in the development and review of policies, priorities and programmes;

o To encourage harmonisation of highway maintenance practice and standards where this is consistent with users‟ expectations, whilst retaining reasonable diversity consistent with local choice;

o To encourage the adoption of an efficient and consistent approach in the collection, processing and recording of highway inventory, highway condition and status information for the purpose of both local and national needs assessment, management and performance monitoring;

o To encourage the adoption and regular review of a risk management regime in the determination of local technical and operational standards, rectification of defects arising from safety and serviceability inspections and investment priorities;

o To encourage continuing innovation in the procurement of highway maintenance contracts, whilst complying with high standards of corporate governance.

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3.5 Highway Asset Management Plan (HAMP)

Asset Management is defined as a strategic approach that identifies the optimal allocation of resources for the management, operation, preservation and enhancement of the highway infrastructure to meet the current and future needs of the customers.

Asset Management is therefore a strategic and holistic approach to planning and managing the investments over the whole life of the highways assets so as to ensure better value for money. This implies the provision of adequate funding to allow the timely intervention of planned and preventative maintenance works, rather than reactive maintenance, and promotes value for money maintenance strategies that balance the level of service to all road users with the minimum whole life cost.

The London Borough of Barnet has produced a HAMP which identifies how the above philosophy is applied in the borough. The author invites the readers to familiarise themselves with this document in order to get a clear understanding of the processes involved.

4. Record Keeping4.1 Bentley/Exor Atlas

The Council uses the suite of software Atlas produced by Exor (now part of the Bentley Group) to collect, store an access all records about its highway assets.

The Atlas suite is based on Oracle technology and consists of a core central database accessed via with a number of software called modules used to input, manipulate, or extract information within it.

All the information stored on the database is allocated spatial co-ordinates allowing it to operate as a geographic information system (GIS) and therefore be displayed and accessed graphically.

The database can be interrogated using pre-set or specific reports which combine data according the users’ specification to provide quick and up to date information on the assets.

The handheld computers used by Highway Inspectors are updated daily and give them access to recent information from the database to allow them to make more informed decisions thus ultimately improving the service delivered to Barnet’s residents. Street works co-ordinators also have the ability to access the database remotely although at present they are updating it in the office only.

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The borough’s highways’ network has been defined into the system together with a thorough asset inventory to provide a base to record any defects, repairs, improvement, or amendment to the borough’s highway assets.

The database is operated under a managed service agreement with Bentley for them to store the information on their servers. As part of the agreement Bentley also ensures that the database remains secure, backed up, and accessible at all time for Council use as well as maintains the various software up to date.

Information about work to be carried out on the network is sent to the Council’s contractors via a Contractor Interface Manager (CIM) using an universal computer language. The contractor is required to inform the Council of any completed works using the same system. This allows all information exchange to be centrally recorded and monitored to ensure compliance with the contractual timescales for defect correction.

All information recorded, even if not primarily intended for network safety purposes, may have consequential implications for safety and may therefore be relevant to legal proceedings.

Under the freedom of information Act 2000, all publicly held records are potentially available for public inspection and reference.

In order to better appreciate the way the database operates the functionalities of the main modules used by the Council are described in the following sections.

4.2 Maintenance Manager

Maintenance Manager is used to manage and record into the database all of the cyclic and reactive safety inspections and defect status.

Maintenance Manager is linked to Mapcapture which is the mobile software interface loaded onto the highway’s inspector’s handheld computer.

All the results from the highway cyclic and reactive inspections in terms of location visited, defect encountered, pictures, correspondence, and work order issued are loaded into the database via the synchronisation of these two software which happen at least once a day when the handheld computer are docked in the office.

Maintenance Manager is used to keep day to day control of expenditure for cyclic and reactive works. Instructions to carry out works sent via the CIM are referenced back to the relevant purchase orders which are separately issued on SAP once a month.

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Although it is possible to link Exor Atlas and SAP so that instructions raised in one are mirrored in the other the relatively small amount of administrative work required to transfer the information generated from Maintenance Manager to SAP does not currently justify the expense necessary to set up such a link.

4.3 Public Enquiry Manager (PEM)

PEM is used to record the details and status of all the requests for skips, scaffolding, hoarding licences, and cross over application into the database.

Officers in the administrative support team use the database to log and track the status of these requests and applications.

4.4 TMA

The TMA module is used by the NRSWA team in conjunction with the Streets Works Mobile interface to track all notifiable activities under the London Permit Scheme in use in some London local authorities including Barnet.

These activities come from three main sources which are utility companies, private developers, and the Council’s owns improvement and maintenance programme.

The system records details of each permit applications including the promoter, work specification, reason for the works, excavation depth, associated traffic management, restriction placed on the works, method statement, and permit status.

The Council uses the record from the database to monitor and issue fixed penalty notices to non complying promoters including its own contractors as appropriate.

Information from the TMA is shared with TfL’s London Works Database and is also accessible to other promoters which are required to use it in administrating their own permit request.

4.5 UKPMS

The UKPMS module is used for analysing the result of condition surveys and defining the most cost efficient way of allocating planned maintenance funds across the network.

Although briefly mentioned here for completeness detail about this modules can be found in the HAMP.

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5. Asset Inventory and Classification5.1 Asset Inventory

Highway assets such as roads, street furniture, and underground drains are the council most valuable assets and are essential to ensure the effective movement of goods and people in the borough.

A thorough inventory of these assets is required in order to ensure that they provide users with the required level of service and allow the Council to target available funds in line with its transport strategy as detailed in the Highway Asset Management Plan (HAMP).

A number of attributes are recorded for each asset such as location, nature, general condition, dimensions, and maintenance history. These data are then used to enable officers to take informed decision on the most appropriate way to maintain them throughout their serviceable life.

At the time of writing this report three quarter of the borough’s assets had been surveyed with the remaining assets due to be completed in the first half of 2013. Once the inventory is completed all the collected information will be loaded into and managed via the various modules in the Atlas database.

As with any database the quality of its information over time depends on it being regularly updated. The management of works undertaken as a result of planned, reactive and cyclical maintenance through the Maintenance Manager Module will ensure that the information is kept up to date.

5.2 Road Hierarchy

A network hierarchy is the foundation of a coherent, consistent and auditable maintenance strategy. It is also crucial to asset management in establishing levels of service and to the new statutory network management role for developing co-ordination and regulating occupation.

Tables 1, 2, and 3 below (referenced in this document as tables 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3) are extracts from the CoP which provide definitions for carriageway, footway and cycleway based on their location and usage.

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Table 5.1: Carriageway Hierarchy

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Table 5.2: Footway Hierarchy

In addition to the footway definitions given in table 5.2 the CoP requires that the presence of schools, hospitals, health centres and areas with a particular concentration of elderly or disabled people be taken into consideration when classifying footway sections.

Table 5.3: Cycle Route Hierarchy

The Council follows the definitions given above by the CoP. Each section of carriageway, footway, and cycleway within the network created for use with Atlas has therefore been categorised to reflect the above classification.

The overall network length in Barnet is 926km, of which 759km (82%) is managed by the Council. The reminder of the network is either private, managed by Transport for London (A1, A41, A406), or by the Highway Agency (A1(M), M1).

The highest carriageway category under the borough’s management is 3a “Main Distributor Road” with road such as the A5, A598, A411,

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A1000, A1003, locally referred as the borough’s main corridors. These account for 8% of the borough’s roads.

The amount of category 3b “secondary distributors” under the borough’s management represents 2% of the boroughs roads

The vast majority of carriageways managed by the Council are either category 4a “link road” or category 4b “local access road” which represent 72% of the borough’s road.

A map showing road categories 1 to 3b in Barnet can be found in Appendix A. Categories 4a and 4b have been omitted from the map for clarity.

The highest category of footway in Barnet is category 1 “Primary Walking Route” which is applied to Barnet’s 19 local town centres. category 1a “Prestige footway” is not relevant for the borough. The location of these town centres together with the footway classification can also be found in Appendix A.

The borough manages mostly category 3 “link” and category 4 “local access” footways representing a combined 68% of the boroughs footways.

On carriageway cycle lane referred to as category A are not common in Barnet other than for very localised measures. The majority of cycle way assets falls under category B and is made up of shared un-segregated facilities through parks and open spaces.

A full classification of assets can be found in the Atlas database and in the inspection folder.

The highway asset hierarchy will be reviewed at the start of every

financial year by the Highway Maintenance Manager to ensure that it provides a true reflection of the network conditions. Information from the claims department will be used as part of this assessment to ensure that the Council is optimising its chances of successfully defending claims for damages.

6. Safety Inspections6.1 Overview

The Council has a duty to inspect and maintain all of the borough’s adopted roads. The Section 36 (Highway Act) list of adopted roads is maintained, updated and published using the Street Gazetteer. The implementation of the remedial actions identified during these inspections supports the delivery of an excellent service to maintain the

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highway asset and facilitate the objectives of the Highway Asset Management Plan (HAMP).

Safety Inspections are designed to identify all defects likely to createdanger or serious inconvenience to users of the network or the widercommunity.

Investigation levels are set for each defect likely to be encountered. Defects meeting these investigation criteria are recorded, risk assessed, categorised, and remedied (if appropriate) according to agreed contractual timescales.

Safety inspections are either carried out in a cyclic (according to the borough inspection regime) or reactive manner (responding to customer enquiry).

A robust process for the identification and correction of defects on the public highway allow the council to maximise the level of service provided to road users and minimise the risks of claims for private and personal damages against the Council.

6.2 Inspection Frequency (Cyclic)

Table 6.1 below shows the inspection frequencies proposed in the CoP for the various asset classes managed by the council.

Carriageway Safety Inspection Frequency (CoP)Category Frequency3a) Main Distributor Monthly3b) Secondary Distributor Monthly4a) Link Road 3 monthly4b) Local Access Yearly

Barnet Footway Safety Inspection Frequency (CoP)Category Frequency1 Primary Walking Route Monthly2 Secondary Walking Route 3 monthly3 Link Footway 6 monthly4 Local Access Footway Yearly

Barnet Cycleway Safety Inspection Frequency (CoP)Category FrequencyA Part of Carriageway As RoadB Remote from C/way 6 monthlyC Cycle Trails Yearly

Table 6.1: Cyclic Safety Inspection Frequencies by Asset Class (source: CoP)

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The categories 1 and 2 for highway and 1a for footway have been omitted from the table as the Council is not responsible for any assets fitting these descriptions.

Consultation with neighbouring local authorities revealed that most chose to systematically inspect carriageways and their adjacent footways at the same time. Having defined the relevant town centres areas in their boroughs authorities then inspect these on a monthly basis and the rest of the network on lower frequencies ranging from four to six months depending on the boroughs surveyed.

Although the above method of inspection matches that historically used in Barnet, going forward the borough is keen to align itself closer to the recommendations within the CoP.

Inspecting adjacent sections of carriageways and footways at the same time while aligning the inspection frequencies to that of the highest adjacent asset would put too much pressure on the Council’s resources and was not therefore considered to be a viable option.

In order to satisfy the inspection requirements set out in the CoP, Barnet therefore undertakes its inspection as follow:

o The 19 town centres identified in Appendix A are inspected on foot once a month. Both carriageway and footway are done at the same time for these inspections.

o Outside town centres assets are inspected either by car or on foot.

o Driven inspections are undertaken by two inspectors one of which drives whilst the other carry out a visual assessment of the carriageway.

o Walked inspections systematically look at both carriageway and footway at the same time and are carried out by each inspector separately.

o Secondary distributor roads Cat 3b are adjacent to secondary walking routes Cat 2. As the inspection frequencies of the footway is one third that of the carriageway, every three inspections is done on foot while and the others are driven.

o A similar approach is taken for link footways and link roads where every other inspections is done on foot

o Local access roads and footway have the same frequency and are therefore inspected together on foot once a year.

o Cycle ways are either walked or cycled according to the relevant frequency.

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Close working relation between the Senior Highway Inspector and the

insurance team ensures that the classification and associated inspection frequency for assets subject to high claim numbers is adequate to reduce the risk of personal injury accidents and the risk of further claims.

To account for lost staff time and service efficiency there is an agreed tolerance of + / - one week for monthly and + / - two weeks for all other inspections.

Maintenance Manager is used to log inspections records and predict the next dates for future inspection. Inspection records are automatically loaded into the database at the end or the start of each working day when the inspector report back to the office.

Although it is possible to produce rigid inspection schedules for inspectors using Maintenance Manager, the borough prefers to maintain some flexibility and leave the Inspectors to decide on the most appropriate route to be inspected each day. This allows them to combine the visit carried out for reactive safety inspections with they overall cyclic rota.

Experiences from other authorities’ suggest that the application of a rigid daily programme of inspection can be counter productive as sections inspected towards the end of the working day can be rushed through in an effort to complete a given schedule. Rigid schedules can also reduce opportunities to maximise the efficiencies which could be gained from harnessing the inspectors’ local knowledge.

The Senior Maintenance Inspector is responsible to monitoring progress and ensures that the relevant frequencies are maintained over time.

6.3 Inspection Regime (Reactive)

Complaints, reports and requests for maintenance from members of the public are received via the Council's Customer Complaint Unit (CCU), which log them onto the SAP CRM database and allocate them a unique reference number.

Requests relating to carriageway potholes are sent out directly to the Council’s Direct Labour Organisation (DLO) for assessment and repair. Other type of maintenance requests are sent to the Senior Highway Inspector or its nominated replacement who distributes them to the relevant inspectors.

The current daily volumes for these requests are eight for potholes repairs, and 100 for general maintenance. The corporate customer care policy guidance currently requires a response to be sent out within 10 working days.

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When practical, reactive inspections are combined with the cyclic inspections so that the opportunity is taken for that section or area of the network to be reviewed at the same time.

Urgent requests for situations that could be potentially hazardous to highway users will be telephoned directly through to the appropriate Highway Inspector.

Customer answers to request for reactive safety inspection are generated automatically using the Atlas module Document Manager which populates the relevant templates with the results of the site inspections. The Senior Highway Inspector oversees the correspondence process and ensures that queries are answered within the corporate deadlines.

6.4 Resource Requirement (Cyclic and reactive)

The Council is responsible for maintaining 759km of public highway divided over 21 wards. Inspections are handled by six highways inspectors working in teams of two each covering seven wards.

Table 6.2 below shows the wards allocated to each team of inspectors. A map showing the area covered by each of the three teams can also be found in Appendix B.

Ward Responsibility for Cyclic InspectionsTeam 1 Team 2 Team 3 High Barnet East Barnet Underhill Totteridge Oakleigh Brunswick Park Coppetts

Woodhouse West Finchley Finchley Church End East Finchley Garden Suburb Childs Hill Golders Green

West Hendon Hendon Colindale Burnt Oak Mill Hill Hale Edgware

Table 6.2: Ward allocation for cyclic inspection teams

In order to maximise local knowledge, continuity and assist in monitoring the quality of repairs each team will remains responsible for the same area over time.

A dedicated clerk of works is responsible for checking that works are carried out to the appropriate standards, within the agreed timescales, and to provide technical assistance to the inspectors as required.

Another Highway Inspector assists the Senior Highway Inspector in carrying out his duties and covers his role in his absence. This same

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inspector is also responsible for the issuing and controlling of licensed activities on the public highway detailed in chapter 7.7 of this report.

The Senior Inspection Officer has direct responsibility for the inspection and defect correction process. This includes managing the Highway Inspectors and the clerk, controlling the budget, and contractors performance. Administrative support is provided to the Senior Inspector to assist him as required.

The Senior Inspection Officer co-ordinates leave request so that at least one inspector is present to cover each area on any given day. He also makes sure that each team covers its area on time and arranges for assistance to be provided between team as required to meet the agreed timescales.

Selected inspectors will be trained to undertake more detailed post accident investigations and to provide such evidence in court. These inspections will be instigated by the Insurance Claim Manager with strict timescales for completion.

6.5 Items for Inspection and Investigatory Levels (Cyclic and Reactive)

During the course of their inspections highway inspectors shall observe defects from the following list of items of highway inventory :

o carriageways

o pedestrian crossings

o footways

o surfacing

o kerbing

o ironwork

o drainage

o private forecourts

o private attributes e.g. coal plates, building access hatches, pavement lights. smoke vents etc.

o grass verges

o road markings

o signs/bollards/lights/signals

o safety fencing and barriers

o trees and vegetation

o highway general.

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Any items presenting a defect equal or exceeding the investigatory levels set out in Table 6.3 below shall be recorded by the inspector and assessed in accordance with in the method detailed in this manual.

Item Defect Investigatory Levelcarriageway pothole/spalling

crowning

depressionruttinggap/crack

sunken ironwork

40mm depth50mm (area as NRSWA Code of Practice)50mm (area 2 sq.m)40mm40mm depth (20mm wide)25mm level difference

pedestrian crossing trip/pothole 25mm depthfootway trip/pothole

rocking slab/block

open joint

tree root damage sunken ironworkdefective coal plates/basement lights etc

25mm depth25mm vertical movement25mm width 200mm length (min depth 20mm)25mm trip25mm level difference25mm trip

surfacing missing/defective skid resistant carriageway“bubbled” mastic asphalt footway

If present

25mm trip

kerbing dislodgedloose/rockingmissing

50mm horizontally25mm verticallyyes/no

ironwork Broken/cracked cover likely to cause a hazardworn/polished cover likely to cause a hazardmissing coverleaking cover likely to cause a hazardlevel difference within framework

If present

If present

If presentIf present

15mm

drainage missing gullyblocked gully likely to cause a hazardbroken/cracked gully grating likely to cause a hazardstanding water in footway 1 hr after cessation of rainfallstanding water in carriageway 1 hr after cessation of rainfall

If presentIf present

If present

full width of footway

1m width from kerb

private forecourt hazardous defect If present

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Item Defect Investigatory Levelprivate attributes hazardous defect If present

grass verge Rutting 75mm depth

road markings faded/worn highway or parking markings

30% loss of effective marking

signs/ bollards/ lights/ signals

damaged/misaligned item likely to cause a hazardmissing item likely to cause a hazarddefective item likely to cause a hazardobscured/dirty/faded item likely to cause a hazardexposed wiringmissing door to lamp columnsignal lamp failure

If present

If present

If present

If present

If presentIf presentIf present

safety fencing and barriers

item damaged or misaligned likely to cause a hazard

If present

trees and vegetation

overhanging carriageway

overhanging footwayobstructing visibilitylow tree base in footway

exceptional circumstances2.1m height clearanceyes/no50mm level difference

highway general oil/diesel spillage

presence of icedetritus likely to cause a hazardfly tip likely to cause a hazardobstruction likely to cause a hazardscaffolding likely to cause a hazardhoarding likely to cause a hazarddefective skip/temporary structure likely to cause a hazarddefective reinstatement likely to cause a hazarddefective open excavation likely to cause a hazarddefective/damaged utility cabinet likely to cause a hazarddefective/damaged street furniture likely to cause a hazarddefective/damaged street name plate likely to cause a hazarddamaged/unstable overhead wiresExposed electrical wires

300mm diameter areaIf presentIf presentIf presentIf presentIf present

If present

If present

If present

If present

If present

If present

If present

If present

If present

If present

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Item Defect Investigatory Levelother danger to the public

anything else considered hazardous or dangerous

If present

Table 6.3: Defect items and investigatory levels

In regard to defects specified in the above table, particularly those covered under the “highway general” heading, many are the responsibility of individuals or organisations and not the Council. Unless urgent action is required, the Inspector’s course of action shall be to pass on the relevant information to the section or department that is responsible for overseeing that particular activity.

Highway inspectors will make every effort to identify the person(s) responsible for the defect and draw their attention to both the defect and their responsibilities. If necessary, appropriate temporary action should be taken to protect the public.

Preset contacts for the utility providers owning assets within the borough and letter templates are available to allow any logged defects identified on their assets to be reported automatically as soon as the inspectors’ hand held computers are docked in the office.

Inspectors will check as part of cyclic inspections that items on the public highway for which a licence should have been issued such as of skips, building materials, or scaffoldings are appropriately recorded on the Council’s database. They will be able to do so using the information displayed for any given street on their handheld computers. Any unlicensed activity should be reported to the licensing team for check and eventual enforcement action to be taken against the relevant third party.

6.6 Defects Categorisation, Type, and Response times (Cyclic and Reactive)

The CoP suggests that defect categorisation should be done via a risk assessment and proposes the use of a risk calculation matrix to derive a risk score which is then used to categorise the defect.

The risk assessment is to be based on impact and probability of the risk. Surrounding highway authorities follow this principle but prefer to rely on their inspectors’ judgement rather than on a calculation matrix to define the defect categories. Barnet follows the same approach as its neighbour by applying the principle but without the rigidity imposed by the use of a pre-set matrix.

Factors considered to categorise defects include the severity of the defect, the type of asset the defect is located on, and the location on the asset. Under this system a 25mm trip hazard on a given footway would

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be given a different priority level depending on whether or not it is located on the pedestrian desired path. Similarly a pothole exceeding the investigatory level will be given a different priority for treatment based on its location on the carriageway.

Barnet’s Term Maintenance Contract identifies four categories of defects to be used in Barnet each with their own preset correction period. Category 4 has been added in this manual to describe a defect which although investigated did not require remedial actions for the time being. The five resulting categories are presented below:

o Emergency (ME) – completion (or at least make safe) within 4 hours;

o Category 1 - completion within 24 preferred, 48 hours maximum;

o Category 2 - completion within 7 days;

o Category 3 - completion within 28 days

o Category 4 –no specific timescale

Category 1 defects should be corrected or made safe at the time of

inspection, if reasonably practicable. In this context, making safe may constitute displaying warning notices, coning off or fencing off to protect the public from the defect. If it is not possible to correct or make safe the defect at the time of inspection, which will generally be the case, repairs of a permanent or temporary nature should be carried out as soon as possible and in any case within a period of 48 hours (this can be reduced to 24hr at the Inspector’s discretion). Permanent repair should be carried out within 28 days. Examples of Cat 1 defects are items such as large potholes, obstacle, or trip hazard in the path of vehicles or pedestrians, exposed electrical equipment, and damaged street furniture leaving sharp edges likely to injure users.

At the discretion of the officer undertaking the inspection Cat 1 defect can be upgraded to priority ME order for a 4 hours response time. If felt necessary the inspector shall remain at the site to warn highway users of the necessary hazard until the area has been made safe

Category 2 defects are those which, following a risk assessment, are deemed not to represent an immediate or imminent hazard or risk of short term structural deterioration. Such defects may have safety implications, although of a far lesser significance than Category 1 defects, but are more likely to have serviceability or sustainability implications. Although present in the contract as a possible category, Cat 2 is in practice rarely used in Barnet and defects are either treated as CAT1 or 3 depending on severity.

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Category 3 is used for defects which do not pose an immediate risk to users due to their nature or location on a given asset but still exceed the borough’s intervention level. This category is also used for defects likely to become Cat 1 defects if left untreated until the next cyclic inspection. Examples of Cat 3 defects are items such as obscured direction signs, minor drainage issue, potholes and footway depressions below the intervention level.

Category 4 defects are those who are below the Council agreed intervention level, but are worth noting for potential intervention as part of overall planned maintenance works or should budget surpluses occur.

In house training is being provided once a year for the highway inspectors to ensure that the categorisation of defect remains uniform across the borough.

As well as category for defect, specific types are allocated at the time of inspection to record the nature of defect. Types are chosen by the inspector from a set list and include description such as rocking slab, pothole, displaced kerb, etc. This additional differentiation allows the Senior Highway Inspector and the Highway Maintenance Manager to appreciate what the maintenance budgets are being spent and inform planned maintenance decisions.

6.7 Defect Correction (Cyclic and Reactive)

The Council ensures that remedial actions are undertaken in accordance with the correct timescales, frequency, and quality, as failure to do so will severely influence the Councils ability to defend claims.

The Employer’s Direct Labour Organisation (DLO) is currently providing the Emergency (ME), Category 1 responses, and the emergency call out service.

An external contractor provides the Category 2 and 3 responses, as well as ME and Category 1 works that exceed the Employer's current in-house capacity.

Work instructions for defect repairs are issued directly from the Atlas database via a Contractor Interface Manager (CIM). Having identified and categorised a defect, Inspectors chose from a list of preset corrective treatments how the defect is to be corrected. The corrective treatments are combined packages of contract items grouping into one item element of site clearance, preparation, and repair. The use of these combined items allows the Inspectors to easily prepare a bill of quantity which will be attached to the work instruction sent to the contractor.

Instructions for ME, Cat 1 and Cat 2 defects are sent automatically at the time of recording via a 3G connection between the inspectors’ hand held computer and the Atlas database. Should a connection not be available instructions to carry out works are telephoned direct by the inspector to

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the relevant contractor and the actual instruction is then transferred automatically when the inspector’s hand held device is next returned into the office and connected with the database.

Instruction for Cat 3 defects and Cat 4 reports are sent to the Senior Highway Inspector for review when the hand held computer is next connected with the database. Having taken into consideration the spend committed to rectify the higher categories of defects the Senior Highway Inspector is responsible deciding which requests should be passed on to the contractors based on the available budgets.

The contractors carry out the defect correction as per the original instruction. The contractors are responsible for submitting and getting written approval for any variation of instruction in terms of type and quantities of treatment prior to carrying out the works. No variation in committed costs will be accepted post completion.

The contractors are responsible for closing off defects upon completion of the remedial works using limited editing rights given to them in the CIM. The closing off date for a defect is taken to be the time the order is actually closed off in the database and cannot be backdated. This places an emphasis on the contractor to remain up to date to meet the contract‘s requirements in terms of response time for defects correction and provide a strong incentive for the information in the database to be kept up to date and therefore be reliable.

6.8 Performance Monitoring (Cyclic and Reactive)

Performance monitoring of the inspection process is carried out by the Senior Highway Inspector in two ways.

o Day to day management and communication with the inspectors and the clerk of works

o Analysis of monthly progress report from the database.

A report is produced monthly from the inspection database indicating as a minimum:

o % of the network inspected on time by area

o % of the network overdue for inspection by area

o Inspection meterage by inspectors

o Number of reactive query answered by inspectors

o Number of defects identified by types and by inspectors.

Results form the reports are circulated to the Highway Inspectors and discussed at the monthly staff meeting run by the Senior Highway Inspector. Actions are taken to assist Highway Inspectors achieve their objectives as appropriate as a result of these meeting.

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Payments for works completed by the contractors are issued on a monthly basis. Ahead of any payments being released a status report is obtained by the Senior Highway Inspector from the database. The report shows the following information for the defects issued and corrected in last calendar month sorted out by category and type:

o Number of defects issued

o ID and value of defects rectified on time

o ID and value of defect rectified late

o ID and value of outstanding defects (both within and outside the rectification period)

The Senior Highway Inspector selects a random sample of defects representing a minimum of 5% of completed works and arrange for a joint site visit with each of the contractors to take place to review the work.

The results of the report and the site visit are discussed at the monthly contractor’s meeting and appropriate actions (in line with the contract) are taken to rectify the situation if required. The Senior Highway Inspector ensures that the minutes and action of this meeting are circulated and clearly identify the items and action discussed for future reference.

Payment for any given month is withheld until eventual issues identified in the report or during the joint site meeting are resolved. Once satisfied the Senior Highway Engineer instructs the admin team to adjust the original order raised in SAP to cover the cost of the works completed in the last month.

Contractors are required to invoice against the adjusted works orders. No invoices will be accepted without the appropriate reference to the relevant work order. As the works orders will be adjusted to reflect the value of works completed that month invoices should be for the full amount indicated in the order.

The Council will review the inspection, assessment and recording regime at least every year to consider:

o Change in legislation or best practice (Code of Practice)

o Changes in network characteristics and use

o Completeness and effectiveness of data collected

o Effectiveness of data analysis

o The need for changes to the inspection regime derived from risk assessment

o Compliance with legal obligations

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o Network serviceability and condition

o Opportunities for improvement

o Service delivery performance

Any disputes or suggestions for changes to frequency or intervention criteria will be discussed at regular Inspector team meetings and the outcome reported to the Highway Network Services Manager. Recommendations for change will be discussed with the Head of Service and the Insurance Claims Manager. Where necessary a report will be prepared in accordance with the Councils delegated powers for decision making in respect to Highways service delivery.

The Council will continue to engage with neighbouring authorities to compare inspection procedures and where necessary harmonise standards.

We will also review road hierarchies across local authority boundaries, to ensure a consistent application of procedures. This shall form a part of the Council’s HAMP.

6.9 Budgets

It is essential that the reactive maintenance budget set out to cover the cost of inspecting and repairing identified defects is adequate to allow the Council to fulfil the commitments defined in this procedure.

Failure to set aside enough money to inspect or repair defect would reduce the Council’s ability to defend itself against legal challenges for personal damages and expose it to an unacceptable level of risks.

Historically £1.9million are spent yearly on reactive/cyclic maintenance on the public highway.

Although small efficiency savings might be possible this level of funding is seen as essential to ensure that Barnet can maintain its public highways network in line with the CoP’s recommendations and the intervention levels set out in this manual.

6.10 Staff Training

Over the years the absence of an up to date highway inspection manual and the varied professional backgrounds of the inspectors has resulted in variations in the way they carry out their inspections.

In order to ensure quality and consistency of records, the Highway Inspectors and the Senior Highway Inspector are all required to attend a technical refresher course dealing with safety inspections and the relevant legislations attached to them. Attendees are required to pass a

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short examination at the end of the course to gain a certificate of competence. The training and examination are renewed every third years to ensure that staff’s knowledge remains good and up to date with the current legislations and recommendations.

Each inspector will understand his or her responsibilities, their role in any claims process and take a pride in securing a safe highway for all road users. This should incorporate not only the identification of defects but continued vigilance to ensure that the area is kept in a safe condition and that the correct repairs are completed.

On top of the required professional knowledge, separate training sessions will be organised to assist the team and its managers in adapting form the previous paper based system to using the Atlas Modules and database. Inspectors will receive separate training to familiarise themselves with the new hand held device while managers will be shown out to use the reporting function of the Atlas database.

Specific sessions involving the contractors will also be organised to ensure that the requirement of the new procedure are understood by all involved in this process.

Specific training requirements over and above that described previously will be identified through the Council’s staff development and appraisal process.

6.11 Method Statement for Safety Inspections

All inspections will be carried out in a safe manner in order to protect the inspector and the public. The individual, corporate and management responsibilities are set out in the Council’s statement for compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

All staff must be aware of and discharge their responsibilities in accordance with the relevant risk assessments.

Inspections in Barnet are carried out either individually on foot or in teams of two inspectors when driven.

The inspector will wear the appropriate clothing and footwear for the activity, location and potential weather conditions. Where necessary each inspector will be issued with the following:

o Reflective jacket/vest

o Waterproof clothing

o Safety footwear

o Mobile phone

o Handheld data collection device

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o Backup report sheets for use in the event of system failure

o An Inspection manual

o Measuring wheel

o Tape measure / measuring board

o Camera

o Maps

Reflective clothing will always be worn when undertaking inspections

Walked inspections should, wherever possible, be carried out from the footway. The recording of data must be carried out from the footway or other safe place

When marking out work in the carriageway “Surveying” signs must be displayed at each end of the section of road warning traffic from both directions

In very heavy traffic it is essential that marking out be undertaken by two people. The second person will concentrate on safety and be on the lookout for traffic. It may be necessary to defer inspection, such as rescheduling the inspection for a time of day when traffic is lighter. In some circumstances traffic management measures may be required

Inspector will be made aware that if in any doubt about how to complete the inspection and identification of the works required in a safe manner they are to discuss the matter with their line manager before proceeding.

Under no circumstances should inspection staff handle needles, syringes or other sharp objects.

Any instances of racist or obscene graffiti observed shall be reported immediately by mobile phone to the Cleansing Team.

7. Service Inspections7.1 Overview

Service Inspections mainly comprise more detailed inspections tailored

to the requirements of specific assets/ particular highway elements. Service Inspections fall into three categories:

o Serviceability

o Network integrity

o Regulatory

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Serviceability inspections are focused on ensuring that the network meets the needs of users and comprise more specific inspections of particular highway elements to ensure that they meet the levels of service defined within the HAMP.

Apart from the specific highway elements which will be detailed later in this section most serviceability inspections are carried out by the highway inspectors at the same time as the cyclic safety inspection. Note however that there is no mandatory requirement placed on local highway authorities to carry out these inspections.

Network integrity inspections are intended to identify areas for improvements (such as reviewing and updating signing and lining, providing dropped kerbs etc.) that may not normally be identified during safety or condition inspections.

This type of inspection is used in Barnet to assess the potential for road safety route action and in the development of corridor improvements to deliver the journey time reliability targets set in the HAMP.

Network integrity inspections are for the most carried out by traffic engineers in the Traffic and Development Section in response to public enquiries or feedback from Highway Inspectors and other council officers regularly attending site. The inspection generally comprises both a desktop study and a site survey to define whether or not a traffic improvement scheme should be developed at a particular location.

Regulatory inspections are undertaken to comply with specific legislation for management and maintenance of the highway. They comprise street works inspection carried out as part of the London Permit Scheme in force in Barnet, as well as licensing inspections to control third parties activities for on the highway.

7.2 Street Lighting Inspections (serviceability)

The provision, operation and maintenance of street lighting in Barnet are managed through the Street Lighting PFI (Private Finance Initiative) Contract. This includes all inspections and repairs necessary to maintain the specified level of operational lighting and to assist in defending street lighting related claims against the Council.

Given the transfer of risk the Service Provider currently carries out night scouts (inspections) of all street lighting apparatus on a weekly basis.  All street lighting related emergency call-outs should be attended to within one hour.

Lighting level checks are also undertaken on up to 30 roads each month to check the quality of lighting. Further details can be found in the PFI’s contract documentation.

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7.3 Tree Inspections (serviceability)

The Council is responsible for inspecting all trees on highway land as well as any tree that may be overhanging or have the potential to fall on the highway. These are collectively called ‘Highway Trees’.

Highway Inspectors carry out basic visual assessments of these trees as part of the highway safety inspections and handle directly any issues caused as result of overhanging or overgrown tree on the public highway via the issue of a section 154 notice to the tree’s rightful owner. Any other concerns noted by the Highway Inspectors as part their cyclic inspections are reported to the Council’ Street Scene Services for further inspection.

In parallel to the above the Council’s Street Scene Services ensures that all highway trees are subjected to a detailed inspection by a specialist contractor once every three years. A health and safety check of all trees in parks and public open spaces is also undertaken annually by trained arboriculturalists.

7.4 Drainage Inspections (serviceability)

The general condition of road and footway gullies is observed as part of the cyclic safety inspections undertaken by Highway Inspectors.

Reactive service inspections are carried out on specific problem sites by the borough’s drainage engineer as a result of public complaint or query.

The current maintenance regime involves the cleaning of all road gullies every 18 months at which time the contractor is required to report on the general condition of the road gully.

7.5 Waiting and Loading Restrictions (integrity)

The general condition of signs and lines including those erected to identify waiting and loading restrictions throughout the borough are reviewed by Highway Inspectors as part of the safety inspections.

Provisions have also been made within the recently outsourced parking enforcement contract for the services provider to notify the council of any issues such as faded road markings and missing signs affecting the effectiveness of restrictions.

7.6 London Permitting Scheme TMA 2004 (regulatory)

The Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) introduced a permit scheme in which highway promoters including the Council would need to obtain a permit to work. The permit scheme replaces the noticing regime under

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NRSWA with the main difference being that a highway promoter would have to ask when they could work in a street as opposed to just informing them when they were going to work and the highway authority being able to apply conditions to the permit.

Barnet applied to the Department for Transport in October 2009 to operate a London Permit Scheme (LoPS) and was granted permission via a statutory instrument, which came into force on 11th January 2010.

The permit scheme is a common scheme, which other London highway authorities also operate. Although the rules of the scheme are common to all members the scheme itself is uniquely operated by the London Borough of Barnet.

The Permit / NRSWA Team is responsible for maintaining Barnet’s Street Work register and operates the software application Exor in accordance with the NRSWA code of practice. The way in which information is sent and received is known as EToN. (Electronic Transfer of Notices).

All electronic notices (permits) are CoPied to Transport for London and are displayed on a mapping software system called ‘London Works Central Register’ which is available to be viewed by the public.

The Permit Coordinators process all work permit applications and assists in the coordination of planned works in Barnet. These permits must be received and responded to within a prescribed time scale. Deemed Permits are those, which have not been responded to within the time scale and have therefore been given by default at no cost to the utility.

Quarterly statutory coordination meetings are held with Barnet’s internal works promoters and with the utility companies, police and buses. In addition monthly meetings with major utility works promoters are also held for more in depth coordination discussions. Ad hoc meetings are held when other works are seen to be disruptive or could cause significant congestion.

Site inspections are carried out by street works inspectors to ensure that agreed woks are carried out following the requirements of the relevant permits and that reinstatement works post implementation meets the council standards.

The processes followed by the NRSWA team and its inspectors are detailed in a separate corporate manual called Permit NRSWA Team Procedural Manual

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7.7 Highway Act 1980 (regulatory)

The Act gives The Council, as the Highway Authority, the power to regulate a number of activities on the public highway.

Under the Act the Council is currently issuing licences for the erection of scaffoldings (sec 169), placing of skips (sec 139), and building materials (sec 171) on the public highway. The issuing of these licences allows the Council to co-ordinate such activities with other planned works in the vicinity and ensures that the condition of the asset is not compromised afterward.

Site inspections for compliance with the above licence requirement are carried out by a dedicated Highway Inspector who ensures that these activities are properly licensed and that the conditions placed on these licenses are adhered to. During these visit the condition of the asset is noted and that any relevant mitigation measures (such as temporary parking suspension) are included in the fee and taken as appropriate. Appropriate redresses are pursued from the third party at the request of the clerk of works if irregularity or damages are founds.

All past and present licences information is stored in the Atlas database to enable proper co-ordination of activities on the public highway. Highway Inspectors have sight of this information on their handheld computers and check for compliance while carrying out cyclic inspections. Any observed breach in condition is reported to the admin team for remedial actions (which can include the issuing of fixed penalty notices) to be taken.

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Appendix A: Road Hierarchy and Town Centres Locations

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1

2

3

56

4

Appendix B: Inspectors Beat Areas

AREA WARDS1 2 3 4 5 6

High Barnet, Underhill, TotteridgeEast Barnet, Brunswick Park, Oakleigh, Coppetts, Woodhouse, West Finchley, East Finchley Garden Suburb, Childs Hill, Golders Green, West Hendon Colindale, Burnt Oak, Edgware Finchley Church End, Hendon, Mill Hill, Hale

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