Highway asset management

Highways authorities have had to change how they do things. Public expectations and demand have increased and there are financial challenges.

Asset Management means managing the highway through long term planning. Transport and highways are an important part of our infrastructure. It is vital in modern society and requires investment for development and maintenance. This approach allows better use of resources. While fulfilling legal obligations. Delivering stakeholder needs and safeguarding the engineering integrity of the network.

The concept of highway asset management is important for people managing highway networks. Highway authorities already practice elements of asset management. Yet, the service wide application of asset management is a new concept.

The highway is the asset. The aim is to provide a structured approach to maintenance. To allow highway authorities to operate, maintain and restore their ‘highway assets'. This allows them to meet key performance requirements.

Looking after highways is a national priority. That is because of its important role in the economy. To work at it's best, it needs to be well maintained.

The Department for Transport (DfT) ask highways authorities to show they are making the best use of highway assets. They do this through asset management plans.

A Highway Asset Management Plan (HAMP) allows the display of detailed information, at all levels. They help show the value for money of maintenance. Allow the measurement of spending, and help make decisions.

You can read our full HAMP for more information. Part 4 of the HAMP is a separate document known as the Highway Asset Management Framework. We produce an annual information report to provide details of maintenance over the year.

The old CoPs are now in one document, called Well-managed Highway Infrastructure.

There's been a move to a risk based approach to the procedures which manage the highway infrastructure. 

Revised Code of Practice.

The List of Streets Maintainable at Public Expense (MAPE) held under Section 36 of the Highways Act 1980 is available to view, in hard copy format free of charge at North Tyneside Council, Quadrant East, The Silverlink North, Cobalt Business Park, North Tyneside, NE27 0BY. An online version of the list is available using the links below.

Disclaimer: The list has been prepared using the available information from records compiled by North Tyneside Council and is correct to the best of our knowledge. It does not, however, constitute a definitive statement as to the status of any particular highway. This is not a comprehensive list of the entire highway network in North Tyneside although the majority of streets are included for information purposes. The extent of the highway maintainable at public expense is not available on the list and can only be determined through the search process. The List of Streets is a live record and is constantly being amended and updated. We update and republish it every three months. Like many rural authorities, where some highways have no name at all, we usually record our information using a road numbering reference system. Street descriptors will be added to the list during the updating process along with any other missing information currently labelled 'unknown'. The list does not contain Recorded Public Rights of Way as shown on North Tyneside Council’s 1976 Definitive, Map nor does it contain streets that are privately maintained. The list is property of North Tyneside Council and is only available to the public for viewing purposes and must not be copied or distributed.

In November 2023, the Department for Transport published details of £8.3 billion in extra funding for local road resurfacing over an eleven-year period from 2023/24 to 2033/34, of which £3.3 billion was allocated for the North of England.

The funding was redirected from the HS2 project and is part of the Network North plan to improve journeys for all and provide long-term certainty to local authorities.

The Government anticipates that this will lead to a long-term transformation in the condition of local highway authority roads for road users up and down the country.

Additional £ 23.922m for North Tyneside Council over the next 11 years

The Government expects this funding for highway authorities to be truly additional and will be shared with councils on top of the existing Department for Transport (DfT) investment for local highway networks for 2023/24 and 2024/25 that was previously awarded. 

The £23.922m is a minimum extra funding total for the period (2023/24 to 2033/34) and is in addition to what North Tyneside Council were expecting. Allocated across the 11 years, it will represent an increase of around two thirds in Department for Transport support for local roads.

It has been confirmed that North Tyneside Council have been allocated £358,000 for this financial year (2023-24) and a further £358,000 for the next financial year (2024-25) for highway maintenance works. This funding has been allocated to areas where highway improvement works are required to improve the condition of the network for highway users. 

The annual, additional funding levels for the remaining years will be profiled by the DfT in due course.

Public scrutiny and DfT reporting requirements

The allocation of this funding will be agreed through the delegated decision process advising our cabinet member of the additional investment and which areas will be targeted to ensure the greatest impact to the road condition are achieved. 

To ensure that the funding delivers an improvement in the condition of local roads and to allow a greater degree of public scrutiny over how it is spent, the DfT is introducing new reporting requirements on local authorities.

Initially, North Tyneside Council should publish summaries of:

• The additional resurfacing and other work either completed in 2023/24 or scheduled in 2024/25 using the additional funding for 2023/24, setting out the total volumes of additional work, specifying particular roads, communities, or locations that have benefited or will benefit from it.
• The further additional work that will be completed during 2024/25 – again setting out both expected total volumes of additional work and where it is planned.
• How North Tyneside Council is introducing innovation in the delivery of highways maintenance and where it plans to go further,
• How North Tyneside Council is using its Streetworks and other powers to ensure that resurfacing works are not undermined by repeated digging up of the same road by utility companies.
• The total amount of investment in local highway networks for the previous 5 years and planned investment for 2024/25, split between DfT and local funding. 

The DfT will expect North Tyneside Council to publish quarterly reports, starting in June 2024, summarising resurfacing and other highway maintenance activities, including a list of all the roads that have been resurfaced. Once a year these will need to include signed assurance from the authority’s section 151 officer that the additional funding was spent on highway maintenance activities that would not otherwise have taken place.

During 2024/25 the DfT will also require North Tyneside Council to publish a long-term plan for the use of the full 11-year funding and the transformation it will deliver. The DfT will provide further advice on these long-term plans in due course, including the extent to which they should be integrated with other local plans. 

General best practice and policy

It is up to each highway authority to determine how best to spend this funding to fulfil their statutory duty to maintain highways maintainable at public expense. The DfT advocates a risk-based whole lifecycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes. This considers all parts of the highway network, such as bridges, cycleways, footways and lighting columns.

Local highway authorities should also consider opportunities for localised changes to the network when undertaking maintenance, including updating road markings to bring them in line with updated requirements and design guidance. This could also include undertaking drainage works or installing dropped crossings to enhance facilities for those with disabilities. 

How Innovation is used 

North Tyneside Council has used innovation in technology to transform the annual condition surveys that are used to determine the annual resurfacing programmes of carriageways and footways. The Surface Condition Assessments for the National Network of Roads (SCANNER surveys) have now been replaced by Annual Engineering Inspections (AEI surveys), which are carried out by LIDAR and processed using artificial intelligence. This innovation has improved the way maintenance schemes are identified.

Construction works of the schemes identified are undertaken utilising innovative environmentally friendly and recycled and reclaimed materials where feasible. 

During 2023/24, a pilot project comprising two schemes in Arcot Avenue and Brenkley Avenue was delivered using a proprietary warm mix asphalt. These two schemes generated a saving of 4.73 tonnes of CO₂.

The majority of the programme however, was delivered using  conventionally prepared asphalts that incorporate recycled materials, particularly rubber crumb from recycled tyres.

Other commitments by our resurfacing contractors include the use of local production plants, the use of natural eco diesel conditioner in their fleet of vehicles, and partnering with asphalt organizations to develop new asphalt additives to help reduce carbon footprints when undertaking works within the highway. 

Co-ordination with utility companies 

On receipt of a request to carry out works, several factors are taken in to consideration, including the duration and methodology of the works. Once granted, our Streetwork officers carry out a thorough inspection of all footpath and carriageway openings at four intervals:

•       The first inspection is during the works to identify that contractors are carrying out the works in a safe manner and to ensure all signage, cones and barriers conform to relevant standards.

•       The second is a post work inspection of the site to identify if all machinery, materials, signage and barriers, etc. have been cleared, and the reinstatement is to a suitable standard.

•       The third is a six month inspection of the reinstatement to identify whether it is still at a suitable standard.

•       Lastly, a 24 month inspection is undertaken. If it is identified that the reinstatement is performing to a suitable standard, the Council will accept the reinstatement as ‘passed’.

If, at any time during the inspection process, the reinstatement is deemed not to be to a suitable standard, a joint site meeting takes place between the relevant contractor and the Council to agree the areas of concern to be reworked. The whole inspection process is then commenced from the start: i.e. during; post; six months; and 24 months, until the work is accepted as ‘passed’. 

Road resurfacing schemes which the additional funding will be used for

The document below provides a summary of the additional resurfacing work the Council is delivering over the two years.