Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2015.

RESOLVED – That the Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 4 November 2015 were approved as a correct record.

Councillors and Officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

A representative from Solutions SK will attend the meeting to outline the reactive maintenance repair work (potholes and other defects on the highway) which is carried out by Solutions SK.

Stephen Morris, Managing Director Solutions SK, attended the meeting to outline the reactive maintenance repair work (potholes and other defects on the highway) which was carried out by Solutions SK. Mr Morris stated that the reactive maintenance repair work carried out by Solutions SK amounted to approximately 2,000 repairs a month. The jobs were submitted to Solutions SK from the Council via its Confirm system and then interface into Solutions SK’s SAP system. It was acknowledged that the interface between the two computer systems still required work carrying out on it so as to reduce the number of manual interventions. Although 2,295 jobs showed up on the Council’s SAP system for November, the same number would not show up on Stockport’s system.

Johanna Smith, Public Realm Manager, stated that the Council raised over 16,000 jobs per year for Solutions SK to repair and therefore the figure provided for November should not be assumed to be a typical month across a period of twelve months.

Mr Morris added that following the jobs submitted via the Confirm system, Solutions SK scope the work and then schedule it with regard to the timescales outlined in the Council’s Policy (2 hours, 48 hours, 28 days and 56 days). Most of the work was carried out by staff from Solutions SK. Solutions SK achieved 90% of the repairs within the timescales they were supposed to. This percentage had been significantly improved as a result of the joint working between Solutions SK and the Council.

Mr Morris clarified that there was no system for carrying out work to the same pothole. There were either permanent repairs to potholes or temporary repairs. There was also the situation where a temporary repair had been carried out and then one of the utility companies carried out work in the same area shortly afterwards.

The number of quality checks carried out had increased. The latest Council quality audit had been completed on 4 December 2015 for Quarter 2. Joint quality checks were also carried out between the client Officer and one of the supervisors from Solutions SK. The last annual client satisfaction survey had been carried out in May 2015. Self audits of work were also now carried out by Solutions SK with photographs taken before and after the work for a selection of repairs. Significant improvements had been made since the formation of the improvement group.

Of the 2,295 repairs carried out in November, there had been four queries with regard to the quality of the repairs from members of the public. The number of compliments far exceeded the number of complaints.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·         A Member expressed concern about the number of times Solutions SK  had to go back to a repair on certain occasions. She quoted an example where a repair had not lasted longer than three months and the edges had deteriorated first. She suspected that there was an under-reporting of the number of complaints.

·         Sometimes when an inspector was inspecting a pothole, he or she may identify another defect which was about to occur. The same pothole may be reported from different sources and emergency repairs may be required.

·         In response to an enquiry from a Member about what had happened to the repair technique that had been used in the 1990’s that sealed the edges of potholes, it was confirmed that the system was no longer in use nationally because of the fumes and method of heating the surface. More importantly the patching joints reflected through surface dressing requirements.

·         A Member enquired whether a record had been kept of the number of times repairs had been carried out for safety reasons and then a utility company subsequently carried out work.

·         It was imperative that the Council’s Highway Inspectors provided Solutions SK with the correct co-ordinates for a pothole prior to the permit for the job being issued.

·         A Member raised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Wednesday 3 February 2016 (6.00pm) – Review of the Council’s Safety Inspection & Repair Policy and Plan

Wednesday 23 March 2016 (6.00pm) – Agree final report and recommendations.

RESOLVED – That future meetings of the Panel be held as follows:-

Review of the Council’s Safety Inspection & Repair Policy and Plan – Wednesday 3 February 2016 (6.00pm)

 Final Report and Recommendations – Wednesday 23 March 2016 (6.00pm)