£15.4m is per year is required to maintain the highway officers are telling the Council’s Scrutiny & Overview Committee on Tuesday 3 November.
‘The requirement to maintain the highway in its current state is estimated to be £15.4m p.a. which is less than the capital funding currently being allocated. As a result the condition of the highways is predicted to gradually deteriorate. As the highways estate is not deemed to be in a desirable condition currently, deterioration will lead to an increasing backlog of work required to bring the assets up to the desired condition. An estimate of the capital funding requirement in order to bring the assets up to this condition is estimated to be £133m.’
‘The £133m estimated additional capital required is spread across a number of categories:
- Carriageway £60 million
- Footway £45 million
- Structures £20 million renewals of strategic bridges
- Drainage not yet determined Investment to mitigate flooding
The big question is whether the continual digging up and laying of new pavements and new traffic junction layouts are actually necessary?
The meeting will also give Councillors the opportunity to question whether the building of the Oasis Primary School at Fiveways will include the provision of air filtration equipment to deal with air pollution, an issue for local people who are concerned about siting this school on the main road.
You can access the documents at:
https://secure.croydon.gov.uk/akscroydon/users/public/admin/kabmenu.pl?cmte=SOC
Parking versus trading standards, food & safety, public health and pollution enforcement
The recent case of a Croydon parking enforcement officer issuing penalty notices to mourners at a funeral is a reminder if the way local authorities use car parking fines as an extra revenue stream. The priority the Council gives to this is show by the fact it employs 71.4 enforcement staff on car parking but only 7 on Trading Standards 7, 8.2 in Food & Safety 8.2 and 8.2 on Public Health & Pollution 8.2. There are 49 on Neighbourhood Safety. 5 on Environmental Enforcement, 2 on Environmental Response 2 and 4 on licensing. Housing enforcement sees 6.6 staff on HMOs and 9 on the new selective licensing scheme. Could the low number on food and safety be one of the reasons why Croydon is the worst rated London borough for food hygiene standards with 15 takeaways and 9 restaurants having zero star ratings?
The enforcement team figures come from a Freedom of Information reply:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/297155/response/726347/attach/html/2/attachment.docx.html
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