Canal27ways

Category: One Trafford

  • Scrutinised: Highway Spend

    Scrutinised: Highway Spend

    A notable scrutiny meeting took place on the 12th March looking at some of the issues that most exercise residents:

    • How highway interventions such as crossings, yellow lines etc. are prioritised
    • Pothole repairs and pavement maintenance
    • Leaf and Gully Clearance
    • Preventing Accidents

    It was the Scrutiny Committee’s attempt at clarity and transparency in the prioritisation of interventions on a limited budget. I think the scrutiny committee made some progress.

    The video of the meeting is worth watching.

    Link to Youtube Recording

    Summary of Meeting

    Matrix Prioritisation

    There was considerable focus from the committee on why certain projects get to the top of the list and others are held back. The example pursued by the committee was ‘double yellow lines’, something that requires a traffic regulation order (TRO). The presentation included a couple of matrices (shown above), but the officers hadn’t submitted all of them and they promised to follow up by submitting the TRO matrix.

    Even without the relevant matrix I think we can get a picture of how proposals are scored. But then it got slightly more complicated.

    • Sometimes opportunities arose to attach the job to another funding stream (examples included Active Travel and the Sale West and Altrincham Network Infrastructure project (Swani)). This could work both ways, bringing forward some projects but holding back others where a cross benefit project might be ‘anticipated’.
    • Finance – I’m hoping they score cost v benefit in all cases, but the nature of yearly budgeting means it is sometimes only possible to do smaller works

    There followed a degree of interogation on whether other interventions could push a project up to the top of the list, a senior councillor’s intervention or a popular petition heard in council.

    Overall on Traffic Matrices

    Essentially, we’re arguing over crumbs. The allocated budgets are so small that it’s hard to see some worthwhile schemes ever happening. We ought to have transparency regardless of the budget. These decisions are far less complex than officers and lead councillors protest. I don’t have a problem that political imperative might play a part in decisions as long as we can see that it has been applied.

    The public are seeing comparatively vast amounts put into active travel. Whilst that is an entirely separate budget, I think the public want to see objectivity and prudence applied to those schemes too.

    I would like to see all the various matrices and projects published on the council’s website. We’re going to have seek solutions to this growing backlog of work and the more we can be upfront about it, the better.

    Two thirds of our footpaths are functionally impaired

    Footways v Highways

    “Footways are obviously a big priority for us, but we have to first and foremost , go with the safety issue and where we can have the most impact on safety. So, the fast majority goes on the ABC network and not on the U class network.” – Chris Morris

    Generally, this is fair. If it was just four-wheeled motor vehicles, I could argue that damaged urban roads reduce speed and improve safety, but the effect of a pothole on two-wheeled vehicles can have fatal repercussions.

    Nevertheless, our footways are in an unacceptable condition. This is a critical element of our activity supporting infrastructure that’s unusable for a lot of people and it’s getting worse.

    Pothole repairs

    My colleague, Cllr Simon Thomas, raised the quality of pothole repairs. He said he was astounded that we were not sealing the potholes and argued that we should also cutting the hole square for a better fix.

    Cllr Thomas on Potholes

    I’m not sure I understand the response from officers in terms of the specific question, but I do get that the underlying condition of the road is the primary concern of the road engineers since the pothole is only the visible manifestation of a larger condition deterioration. That said, if pothole repairs are disintegrating within a short space of time, we need to know.

    Vision Zero / Road Safety

    Greater Manchester has talked a good talk on reducing serious injury on our roads, but I really haven’t seen proactive responses. I thought the most interesting comment was that Trafford officers described the Vision Zero team as being ‘resourced’ (as Trafford sees when they regularly meet). My take is that we need to see output from ‘Vision Zero.

    Resources:

    Presentations submitted to the Scrutiny Committee

    Presentation PDF
    Traffic Regulation Order Scrutiny Jan 24

    I’ve only skimmed the surface of the information submitted to Scrutiny Committee, but I’ve tried to pick out the key elements that are of concern to residents. It’s well worth watching the whole exchange. By all means add your comments below and I’ll try and respond.

  • Focus on Derbyshire Lane West

    Focus on Derbyshire Lane West

    We’ve been out and about in Derbyshire Lane West, asking how it’s going. As you can see below, you’ve been saying lots of good things about the area.

    But there are things you’d like to see improved…

    You don’t feel as safe as you deserve to feel.

    This has been raised a few times. The police figures are not too bad, but they don’t tell the whole story. You’ve told us about drug dealing in alleys and instances of self-injecting in the open. The area is not far from well-publicised tragic events involving knives and there has been a lot of worry about an incident in Moss Park about a year ago.

    I want to bring the police into this. I’d like to see some community engagement. I’m not sure police surgeries are the answer, but there are actions we need to consider.

    It’s not good for anyone if we don’t feel safe enough to engage fully in community activity, particularly if that means children are denied the freedom granted to older generations.

    Flytipping and graffiti

    We need to do better at clearing flytipping. There’s graffiti on the back of the flats above the shops. People have told me it adds to the general sense of a neighbourhood that’s not looking after itself.

    Decline of the road

    The state of the speed-humps in particular has been raised. They’re by no means the worst, but I get that people expect better.

    Subway under railway

    The subway has received some attention lately but it needs major investment. Andy Burnham wants all Greater Manchester stations to be accessible. The condition of the Humphrey Park subway means it can not be said to be wheelchair accessible.

    Actions

    I’m going to talk to the police over the general perception of personal safety in the neighbourhood. I’m already talking to Trafford over graffiti.

    Ideally, I’d like to improve general engagement with the area. The Friends of Moss Park is not currently active because people have left the area.

    I almost live too close to the area, because it’s easy to take things for granted and I’d like us to improve our channels of communication with the area.

    I’d really love for people to engage with the comments below and tell me how we need to respond. Should we be doing more in terms of litter picking for instance? I’d suggest public meetings but is there an appetite?

    I’m intending to update the site on how we’re getting on. But please do comment below!

  • Visit to One Trafford

    Visit to One Trafford

    This morning, I went with a cross-party selection of Trafford Councillors to Tatton House in Baguley which is the main base for the mix of council and Amey staff that make up the Trafford Partnership.

    I really dislike the Amey contract – it places far too much control in the hands of a private company. The visit hasn’t changed my personal view that in 2028 we have to say that the contract won’t be extended. I’m not totally against contracting out services like bin collections, most councils do it, but Trafford’s almost complete handover was ridiculous and not a model that others have followed.

    Despite my abhorrence of the arrangement, the staff that work from Baguley are excellent. It’s a tragic constant of privatisation, whether it’s the water utilities pumping sewage into rivers or different modes of public transport, the staff on the ground always do their best.

    There are successes, our recycling rates are high. We compete with Stockport as to who has the best recycling in GM. There is a real prize for reducing it further as we pay more in the waste levy than we spend on the entire Amey operation, which begs the questions as to how can we increase recycling further. What is the upper limit subject to current practices of packaging etc?

    I think it’s also worth asking what the incentives are to people for whom there are much more pressing priorities than the council making a saving. For a lot of people, the link between their well-being and council finances is more tenuous than some councillors assume is a given. We can do more with communities both in terms of empowerment and delegating spending.

    Achieved a success whilst there in the offer of an extra marked disabled space to Lostock Court on Barton Road. They’ve had two spaces for years, but pressures and changing need caused some of the residents to come to me last year (it’s taken that long) to ask for an additional space. A letter will be going out soon making that offer. I’m really pleased with that.

    It was an enjoyable and informative visit. There’s some real stars there on both sides of the contract divide. As always, I really welcome your feedback particularly on the One Trafford arrangements.