Meeting documents

Of the meeting held on 23^rd June 2015 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 23 June were agreed as a correct record.

In the Minutes there is an action relating to the Cabinet Member for Transportation. A report was tabled titled the Local Area Forum TfB Scheme Delivery Review and was presented by Simon Dando, TfB. There were a number of recommendations within this paper.

The recommendations were follows:-

·         Increase the current resources to address the backlog.

·         Establish and publish the programme to address the current schemes

·         Formalise the communication advising customers of the impact

·         Ensure the applied fees are clear and visible to customers

·         The Budget Estimate sheet should be amended to show the different project phases in the correct sequence

·         Each phase should clearly indicate whether that project element is a quotation to undertake work or a provision to determine a budget

·         The scheme management protocols should be amended to a ‘gateway’ approach allowing budget estimates to be updated at each gateway point

·         The contingencies and risk should be detailed within a scheme register and included within the budget estimate

·         The process of scheme change needs to be formalised with the customer to aid understanding and avoid confusion in changing scheme outputs/costs/

·         Ensure that the fee breakdown is transparent on budget estimates.

·         Provide visibility of the supply chain partners approach to undertake the work.

During questions the following points were noted:-

·         £10m of the capital programme next year will be delivered through a new market testing tender process which will help provide TfB client with valuable market intelligence, aid benchmarking and help the client access value for money. The cost for £10million worth of schemes had come back at £6.9 million so there is flexibility in providing additional works. Tenders would be awarded from mid-August to November. A Member commented on the open market being cheaper and the response was that there were risks in going to the open market with less stringent rules and regulations.

·         A Member expressed concern about contingency. This was in line with Her Majesty’s Treasury recommendations. The contingency percentages tend to relate to generic non-specific project delivery risks and are intended to determine a budget level and are not applied as actual cost.  A detailed breakdown would be given on each Project.

·         Concern was expressed about the right of an automatic extension of the contract if satisfactory KPI performance is delivered. This had been removed but an extension to the contract could still be awarded based on satisfactory performance.

·         A Member asked if LAF schemes could be combined with maintenance in the same area to co-ordinate both programmes and to make savings. Simon Dando agreed to review this although it was complex with delivery dates and extensive consultation, which was sometimes required by LAFs.

Action: Simon Dando

·         Concern was expressed about disrupting major roads with patching work and whether it was better value for money to resurface the road with the disruption to local businesses.

Simon Dando was invited back in six months time to give an update on the implementation of these recommendations.

Action: Committee Adviser