Monday, 15th March 2010
Highways Asset Management Submissions

Fourteen successful local authority highways asset management submission documents have been published on the website of the Highways Efficiency Liaison Group (HELG), www.helg.org, so that all local authorities and others can benefit from the ideas.

The submissions were made to government last year as part of a support package for local authorities to develop their approaches to managing their highway infrastructure on a long term basis. Fourteen individual local authorities and groups of local authorities were successful in bidding for £7.5m of government funding for a range of innovative approaches.

The submissions relate to highways asset management activities and include working with partners, collaborative working, data management and analysis, deterioration modelling for carriageways, footways and street lighting, streetscene approaches, climate change, flood risk and drainage, traffic signals and skidding resistance.

Mike Bordiss, Chair of HELG, said “Asset management is the way leading industries now think about infrastructure management. Highways has made a good start in recent years and must now develop quickly to achieve better investment decisions and consequent reductions in whole life cost. It is important that the good ideas and innovation in the asset management submissions are shared widely.”

The successful authorities and groups of authorities received between £0.4m and £1m each towards further development of their highways asset management approaches. Work is generally now underway and it is expected that case studies showing progress will be published as the projects proceed.

-ends-

Notes:
1. Asset Management is the term used to describe a strategic approach to management, preservation and operation of infrastructure assets over their whole life. The approach requires a wide ranging and long term approach, often in excess of 30 years. It differs fundamentally from short-term approaches which may prioritise immediate repairs over preventative work to preserve the life of the asset.

2. The £7.5m fund was part of a wider support package from the Department for Transport to English local authorities worth £32m in total. The bulk of the funds were allocated to support highways data collection and management. £7.5m was subject to a competitive process and rewarded innovative and effective use of highways infrastructure data to achieve benefits in services.

3. The successful authorities and groups of authorities were:
Joint bid - 33 London Boroughs and TfL £1.0 m
Joint bid – Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Swindon £0.8 m
Joint bid – Nottingham Derby and Leicester £0.7 m
Blackpool £0.6 m
Oxfordshire £0.5 m
Hertfordshire £0.5 m
Dorset £0.5 m
Cornwall £0.5 m
Warwickshire £0.5 m
Leeds £0.4 m
Durham £0.4 m
Newcastle £0.4 m
Blackburn with Darwen £0.4 m
Nottinghamshire £0.4 m

4. Issued on behalf of the HELG Press Office by Joan Roemmele. For enquiries from the media, journalists and researchers only, the HELG Press Office can be contacted on +44 (0) 1782 443080, +44 (0) 7884 438897 or e-mail: joan@theprfirm.co.uk