19th January 2024
- 20mph speed limit programme - expressions of interest for 2024-25
- Winter carriageway conditions
- Special events and banners, decorations and lighting over the highway
- The Highway Maintenance Community Enhancement Fund
- Grit bins
- Information for Snow Wardens
The eleven selected 20mph speed limit schemes in the first two tranches are underway or completed. There is now an opportunity for a third tranche to be progressed through the 2024-2025 financial year.
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The first two tranches received a significant amount of interest (152 submissions) and it is proposed to utilise the same scoring matrix as used for the previous years. Therefore, if your community has already submitted an expression of interest you need not do so again, this will be reviewed again and against any expressions from new communities. If your community wishes to modify your proposal you may, and this will be reassessed.
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A further £150,000 has been secured in our Road Safety Capital Allocation for the 24/25 tranche (Item 210). It is anticipated that 4-6 further communities (depending upon the size of the schemes) could benefit from new 20mph limits with this additional funding.
The next steps will be for elected Members to work with their communities to complete new or modified applications, it is important that every application is supported both by the Town or Parish Council and Elected Member prior to assessment. It is recognised that there is no Town or Parish Council representation for the Exeter area and community support will be discussed separately with those Members.
Following the period of extended wet weather that we experienced over the festive period, the Highways and Traffic Management Service has experienced a significant increase in the number of potholes reported by the public and recorded through the Highway Safety Inspection process.
 This increase in numbers highlights the fragile nature of our carriageways due to the long-term lack of capital funding, leading to under investment.
This situation is undoubtedly going to get worse over the next couple of weeks as the current cold spell leads to further deterioration due to freeze thaw effects.
We encourage you to use the ‘report a problem’ webpages to inform us of potholes: www.devon.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/report-a-problem/
Once a defect has been reported by the public, we aim to visit and triage the report within 3 working days on our higher category road network, and 7 days on our lower category network. The Triage Officer will then arrange the appropriate response based on the Council’s Highway Safety Policy.
In addition to the increase in defect repairs, the additional task of gritting the network is likely to stretch resources, particularly if this cold snap continues for any length of time. Currently the road surface temperatures are rising above zero in the daytime. When they remain freezing all day, we enter a cycle of continuing to grit the roads throughout the day which draws heavily on resources. The potential impact will be that we need to focus on safety critical operations over planned improvement works such as patching and drainage improvements. While this is frustrating for our communities, the safe operation of the network has to be prioritised.
Our Network Response Team are in daily communication with our contractor, Milestone, to assess current demand, adequacy of resources, and priorities. This includes identifying non-safety or ‘serviceability’ defects. Non-safety defects are defects which do not meet the intervention criteria laid out in our policy, but may represent sufficient deterioration to be considered a nuisance or may appear likely to continue to deteriorate further. Where defects are situated in close proximity to one another, inspectors can specify larger patch repairs to encompass those defects.
In addition to the identification and repair of non-safety defects we are continually innovating and trialling new products and processes associated with defect repairs. For example, we recently trialled a product called ‘Elastomac’ which is a mastic asphalt that utilises around 70%-80% recycled materials. This work is carried out in parallel to now established processes like the dragon patchers we operate in Devon.
Whilst pothole numbers may be higher than we’d like in the weeks ahead, to give you an understanding of our current level of resources, last week there were
- Up to 26 defect gangs across the County undertaking pothole repairs, supported by 2 additional sub-contractor gangs.
- Around 8 internally resourced Milestone gangs carrying out larger scale non-safety (serviceability) repairs across the County.
- 2 externally resourced gangs providing support, with further work underway to bring in one or two further sub-contractor gangs.
- All 4 dragon patching gangs on programmed work (subject to favourable weather).
The additional £6.663m announced ahead of the Autumn Statement is already being invested into the carriageway, with additional serviceability patching and local planned works brought forward in the programme.
We reviewed the most recent batch of your Highway Maintenance Community Enhancement Fund (HMCEF) applications at our Road Warden Board on 17th January. Applications for the are now closed for the 2023-2024 financial year. We will share a summary of successful applications and case studies on our website.
Applications for the 2024-2025 financial year will open in April; if you apply using our online form then your application will be held for consideration in the Spring. We will prioritize applications for equipment and materials and those that support self delivery, although applications will be considered on a case by case basis.
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We provide updates to registered snow wardens via email bulletins and 'Devon Alert' social media accounts; we are no longer able to provide text updates. If your town or parish has a Snow Warden who doesn't receive our Snow Warden bulletins please ask them to contact us at communityselfhelp@devon.gov.uk.
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Devon County Council will provide up to 5 tonnes of salt free of charge to Parish and Town Councils who participate in the Snow Warden Scheme, however if delivery is refused the Parish/Town Council may be asked to cover any costs incurred as a result of the refusal.
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