Agenda item

The following question was submitted by Cllr Ray Godwin for response by the Cabinet Member for Environment & Transport:-

 

“The state of our road infrastructure both nationally and locally is crumbling, I see this every day in my professional role as a driver of a large goods vehicle and also have it reported daily from residents within my ward.

 

Given that additional to individual taxation, that the amount of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) collected by national government last year was around £7.1 billion (2021/22) up from £6.9 billion the previous year and fuel duty is at the highest levels ever, averaging between £24.3 billion and £25.9 billion per year between 2021 / 2023 equivalent to £867 per household per year or 0.9 per cent of national income.

 

What is the allocated amount of funding to this council from central government for the repair and maintenance of the roads in our borough and could you supply a rough estimate on what this borough would actually require to not only patch potholes but to repair and resurface our roads to a standard expected by motorists and residents in our communities?”

 

The Cabinet Member for Environment & Transport responded with:-

 

“The highway infrastructure asset is the most valuable single asset owned by the Council and is vital to local economic prosperity and resident’s quality of life. The 2021/22 budget allocated by the Government to Stockton Council to maintain these assets was £3,296,143. However, this budget has to cover footpaths, bridges, streetlights, traffic signals and other infrastructure, as well as carriageways. In 2021/22 the budget from Government available for roads in Stockton on Tees was £1,576,996.

 

Using a nationally recognised calculator for road maintenance, to maintain a ‘steady state’ in respect of carriageway condition, Stockton’s roads require a budget allocation of £3,200,000 per annum. This shows that Stockton’s road repairs represent a funding gap of approximately £1.62m per annum.

 

However, in terms of our performance with the resources available, based on national benchmark indicators, SBC are doing a better job than most Local Authorities.

 

According to the 2022 The National Highways & Transport Public Satisfaction Survey;

 

• Speed of repair to damaged roads 4% above the national average, ranked 23 out of 111, and in first quartile.

• Quality of repair to damaged roads 4% above the national average, ranked 26 out of 111 and in first quartile.

• Condition of Road Surface 3% above the national average ranked, 40 out of 111 and in second quartile.

 

This isn’t a problem that only faces us here in Stockton and in response to the shortfall our carriageway maintenance programme is managed on a needs basis and has been restricted to dealing with those sections of carriageway most in need of attention, with preventative maintenance being reduced.

 

Councils up and down the country including Conservative Councils are managing decline in terms of the state of their roads. Despite suffering from funding shortage, we are still maintaining a good position nationally. You mentioned about exercise duty and petrol duty, there is a Transport Committee that is led by a Conservative MP Ian Stewart and they have looked at the potential shortfall because a very small percentage of that is used to maintain our roads. The other thing that they haven’t yet looked at is the impact across the country is as we move away from petrol and diesel vehicles the impact on fuel exercise duty and the how we manage that shortfall which will be in the millions.”

 

Cllr Ray Godwin asked the following supplementary question:-

 

“Thank for the comprehensive response. Just to clarify out of the £33 billion taken in by this government £1.6 million is allocated to this Council. On this basis can I assure my ward residents that it is not postcode lottery regarding road repairs like some Councillors have alluded to but one of lack of national funding? ”

 

The Cabinet Member for Environment & Transport responded with:-

 

“I can absolutely assure you Councillor Godwin that it is not the case of a postcode lottery and it is managed on a needs basis.”

 

The following question was submitted by Cllr Marcus Vickers for response by the Leader of the Council:-

 

“Will the Council consider recording, live-streaming and uploading meetings online, for greater public engagement and transparency in our local democracy?”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“Council meetings are open to the public and anyone who wishes to do so may attend. The issue of streaming meetings was adopted previously for Council, Cabinet and Planning Committee but there was little public engagement at that time. Analysis identified that the lowest number of recorded views for a Council meeting was 16. A review took place in 2016 and the cross-party Members Advisory Panel recommended that the recording and streaming of meetings be ceased with effect from 2017/18.”

 

Cllr Marcus Vickers asked the following supplementary question:-

 

“If not for democracy then can I ask that it be considered that the meetings are recorded only for the security and safety of officers and members from bullying, intimidation, rude and inappropriate behaviour?”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“There’s nothing wrong with recording meetings but the costs for recording meetings were about £15k per year and as I said the Members Advisory Panel recommended that the recording of meetings cease with effect from 2017/18 and the reason for that was the value for money aspect. £15k is a lot for the views of about 16 people but I have nothing against the recording of meetings. You can’t do something like this on the cheap, it has to be done professionally. We could look at it again at the Members Advisory Panel and see what the costs would be and take from there possibly.”

 

The following question was submitted by Cllr Ted Strike for response by the Leader of the Council:-

 

“Can the Leader of the Council tell me what actions have been taken to remove the hotel business from the Teesside Pension fund so that these accounts are stand alone and SBC are never put in the embarrassing position of having a "Strike Off" notice imposed on the hotel again.

 

Did SBC receive any financial penalties for receiving this notice?”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“The auditing of the group accounts was delayed because of the technical matter relating to the Teesside Pension Fund, but the Hotel Company was not part of the Pension Fund. The Hotel Company has already procured the services of an independent auditor and submitted its separate audited accounts to Companies House. Stockton Council didn’t receive any financial penalties for this notice. ”

 

Cllr Ted Strike asked the following supplementary question:-

 

“Can you assure Members that this won’t happen again next year and the audited accounts will be in on time for the hotel.”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“The four in the Tees Valley area are hoping that the delayed accounts won’t happen again, it was because of the Teesside Pension Fund and I do believe that the issue is now moving forward and hopefully they will use independent auditors for the hotel next year and therefore the issue will be resolved.”

 

The following question was submitted by Cllr Ted Strike for response by the Leader of the Council:-

 

“One of the benefits of the council's franchise with the Hilton group is the Hilton's website which directs people to the nearest Hilton hotel, as well as the Hilton Honours scheme.

 

Can the Leader of the Council advise me of the percentage of guests who stayed at the hotel were members of the Hilton Honours scheme?”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“The proportion of guests registered as members of Hilton Honours Scheme is commercially sensitive information and we weren’t able to get hold of that information from the Hilton Group.”

 

Cllr Ted Strike asked the following supplementary question:-

 

“If the Hilton Hotel did not allow us to renew our franchise when the current franchise is up, what continency plans does the Council have in place and how big will the financial impact be on the hotel?”

 

The Leader of the Council responded with:-

 

“This is not really related to the first question, and it is something we would have to look into so sorry I can’t answer that question.”