Devon Highways Bulletin - August 2014

Devon County Council sent this bulletin at 01-08-2014 01:00 AM BST

Monthly staff briefing August 2014

Please read and cascade this bulletin to your teams - see guidance notes for managers on SharePoint

David's introduction

This month includes the following;

- Funding

- Matford and Lucombe House

Senior Management Team re-organisation for Highway Capital Development

The Senior Management Review is now complete and is as follows;

- Highways Intelligence Group Manager - Meg Booth

- Asset Management Group Manager - Joe Deasy

- Traffic Management Unit Manager - vacant

- Joint Venture Partnership Director (VJV Partner post) - Glen Robinson

- Joint Venture Works Delivery Group (VJV Partner post) - Nigel Card

- Neighbourhood Highways Group Manager - Tony Matthews

- Chief Engineer Highways - Rob Richards

- Chief Engineer Bridges and Structures - Kevin Dentith

- Built Environment Group Manager - Chris Dyer

- County Waste Manager - Wendy Barratt

What's going on?

Finding your way

Archive copies

SharePoint

Contact us

Send in your news and articles

Staff Achievements and Reward Scheme (STARS) is open to all Devon Highways staff

The STARS Environment category is ideal to nominate our teams and colleagues. Has someone you know demonstrated an outstanding contribution to caring/managing our environment, and/or our natural resources? Take the opportunity to recognise a colleague/team for the work they do? If you are unable to access the STARS webpage please download the nomination form and email or post it back.

Dear Sir,

Congratulations on the new bridge and gate at the north end of the Borough Valley footpath near Southcliffe Hall, which you completed last week. It looks very solid and a great improvement on the old ones, especially the gate instead of the former stile which I had great difficulty climbing over with my bad knee. As we use this footpath almost every day of the year to walk our dog in the woods (it being the only footpath which is flat in the village), we very much appreciate the new gate and bridge. Well done and many thanks.

(Compliment for Simon Houghton, PROW Warden North Devon)

Startrek Charity Night Walk

Following an office challenge by Martin Stoddart to members of the Barnstaple Neighbourhood (Denice Daniel, Alan Jones, Paul Stewart) and EDG (James Millichope, Ian Sweetland) teams, we joined together to enter the Rotary Club's Ilfracombe 2014 Startrek Challenge which took place over the 2 and 3 March.

Neighbourhood Highway Group update

Work for the last couple of weeks in the Neighbourhood Teams has focussed on identifying potential schemes for the programme of works following the successful bid for funding from the Governments Pothole Fund.

BCMG update

This month's update includes;

- I-Ways and Web Page Development

- Temporary Members of Staff

- BCMT Whole Team Meeting

- Vehicle Crossings

- Performance Monitoring

PROW Update

This month's update includes;

- Definitive Map Review

- Warden Update

- Explore Devon

- Country Park Updates

- DCAF Newsletter

Complaints Feedback

Unfortunately our compliance with the corporate complaints timescale slipped again in June to;

77% responded to within timescale

Top Complaint Themes

1. Parking 2. Drainage 3. Carriageway

A review of the complaint monitoring process has recently been carried out by the BCMT, the results of which will be communicated in due course. It is our overall aim to consistently achieve 90% compliance with corporate timescales.

If you have any feedback on the complaint monitoring support please contact Annmarie Lloyd.

Vegetation - Ordering Work with SWH

NHO's can now place orders directly onto RMS for SWH to carry out works concerning vegetation / trees.

Therefore, simple remedial works to DCC trees and hedges can be carried out by SWH, and the order placed by the NHO.

Full details are available on The Hub.

CSM errors or incorrect allocation?

If you have any feedback in relation to the way in which a CSM has been recorded, or that it has been sent to the incorrect location, please send full details to Lucy Barrow.

She will ensure that any issues are highlighted accordingly and will monitor all feedback in order to identify any training requirements.

Highways System Thinking & Team Build Days

There have recently been two special editions of the Bulletin which focus on;

- Highways Systems Thinking

- Team Build Days

Safety Share

EDG has been sharing some safety messages with our partners, Jacobs UK Ltd and SWH in what is called Safety Share. The latest article shared by Jacobs is about the dangers of using mobile phones while driving.

Message from Leader, John Hart

Our Chief Executive, County Solicitor and I recently met with the Leader and Chief Executive of North Devon District Council to discuss possible future arrangements with the Civic Centre in Barnstaple.

While both Councils agree that our intention is to vacate the building in due course, there are a number of on-going discussions with other occupiers, including North Devon Council, that need to be considered before any final decision can be reached.

However, you should also be aware that we are continuing to look at the potential for staff to be located in other buildings in the town and we will keep you updated with any developments.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns please e-mail bccquestions@devon.gov.uk.

John Hart
Leader, Devon County Council

This month we say Goodbye to the following colleagues;

- Mike Parnell, Programme Delivery & Traffic Manager

- Richard Hosgood, Neighbourhood Highway Officer

We would also like to welcome the following members of staff ;

- Anna Caunter, Olivia Holme and Eryn Hooper at Lucombe House, Emma Rowland and Karen Armstrong at Barnstaple and Mike Kirby-Rose at Ryefields who have all joined the BCMT until the end of December

- Simon Milner who will cover the Highways Systems Manager post during Roxanne Tandridge's maternity leave

Congratulations to James Foley who will move from his post in the BCMT to the role of NHO, in the Eastern Neighbourhood Team, on the 15 August.

Competition

How many square metres of grass did we cut last year?

Send your answer

Congratulations to last month's winner a chocolaty treat is on its way!

Contact us

Contributions to our Devon Highways Bulletin are always welcome - we look forward to hearing from you soon. Colleagues not receiving this bulletin? Tell us!

www.devon.gov.uk/transportroads www.swhltd.co.uk

Devon County Council