An independent survey of local people has resulted in the Council’s highways maintenance service being declared the most improved out of 70 other councils across the country.
The National Highways and Transportation survey provides an overview of the performance of different councils in maintaining the roads and questions around 4,500 people in each area. The Council was:
- the only one out of 70 to show an improvement in all 17 performance indicators in the highway maintenance category;
- one of only six councils to show an improvement in the ‘conditions of roads’ category;
- achieved significant improvements in cleanliness of roads, dealing with abandoned cars, and satisfaction in road safety.
Councillor Roger Symonds (Lib-Dem, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Transport, said, “The Highways Team are delivering quality public services and it is excellent news that this work is having an effect on people’s views on what Bath & North East Somerset Council does on a daily basis. We cannot be complacent and we are always listening to local organisations, schools, and the public about how things can be done better. The result also reflects the fact people can register problems quickly through Council Connect.”
Key areas of improvement in the survey were:
1. Improving local highways
Satisfaction on the condition of road surfaces is up more than 6% and with cold gritting is up more than 4.5%.
Kelvin Packer, Council Service Manager for Highways, said, “The Highways Team has worked extremely hard with our contractor Atkins to make best use of more than £13 million over the past two years to improve the highway network. High satisfaction with our gritting operation reflects the fact we grit 38% of the road network, more than 8% the national average.”
2. Improving road safety for youngsters
Satisfaction with the safety of children cycling to school and road safety education increased by 11% and 12.6% respectively.
Nick Jeanes, Team Leader Traffic and Safety, said, “Funding Sustrans locally to provide the Bike It scheme and our popular Bikeability cycle training are extremely popular with local parents because they encourage safe, responsible use of a sustainable method of transport.”
3. Let there be (street) light!
Satisfaction with speed of repair to street lights increased by over 7%.
Keith Showering, Team Leader Street Lighting, said, “We have worked very hard with our contractor to the point where broken street lights are fixed on a first visit to the problem in 99% of all cases. The result also reflects the fact local people are helping us by reporting street light failures via Council Connect in moments by using the ‘Report It’ system on our website.“
