Submission Documents: By Councillor Thomas Kerr:- "This Council expresses its deep dissatisfaction with the current condition of the city's roads and footways and its concern over the current plans for their repair which are unlikely to deliver the improvement that the city's infrastructure needs and deserves. In the Council's most recent Roads Infrastructure Status and Options Report (RISO), it was noted that carriageway condition deteriorated for the first time since 2013 to 70.5% of carriageways in acceptable condition. In addition, this report highlighted that customer satisfaction, as measured by the household survey, is at its lowest level for carriageways since 2011 at 18% with footway condition falling to 39%. While the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact in slowing down the rate of repairs at certain points, it has been clear for some years that the city's roads and pavements are in a poor condition. The Council's RISO report noted that to bring carriageways up to "Best Condition in Over a Decade" would cost £15.5 million annually over 5 years with a 20-year investment of £250 million. To bring footways up to the Gold/Silver Standard would cost £3.97 million with a 20-year investment of £50.48 million. Further to this, a recent Freedom of Information request confirmed that Glasgow currently has an outstanding bill to repair its known road and footway repairs of £96 million. In the Budget Report tabled at the Council meeting of 17/02/22, it was noted that the Council plans the following capital investment in carriageways and footways: - Carriageways: £4.5 million (2022/23), £5.2 million (2023/24) and £6.5 million (2024/25). - Footways: NIL (2022/23), £300,000 (2023/24) and £300,000 (2024/25) The Council recognises its financial challenges in funding such works. However, it is clear that the current investment proposals are extremely unlikely to allow the city to bring its roads and footways to a "Best in a Decade"/Gold standard or to seek to bring all roads and footways up to a good standard with only new maintenance required. Even if all of the capital that the 2022/23 budget seeks to make available for potential use on roads and footways by Area Partnerships was directed to this task alone, over a three-year period the Council would still be significantly adrift of the resource required to bring roads and footways up to good condition. This Council expresses its view that the city's residents deserve to have good quality infrastructure to allow them to move about the city in an efficient manner. It is self-evident that if we are to encourage more of our citizens to take up active travel options that we require to provide the infrastructure to allow this to be done safely and that at its most basic level this will require having roads and footways in good condition. For example, the personal injury that a cyclist or pedestrian could suffer from a pothole or road/pavement defect is much more significant than that of a vehicle driver. Further, this Council recognises the significant cost to road users - cyclists, car drivers, bus operators, LGV/HGV operators and others - for the repair of damage to cycles and vehicles caused by potholes and road defects. To allow for Councillors to consider the best way to put in place a serious and costed plan to tackle the significant damage to our city's roads and pavements, this Council instructs the Chief Executive to prepare the following: - An up-to-date assessment of the cost of repairing ALL of the city's identified road and pavement defects to allow the Council to come to a point where it only requires to undertake repairs to new defects - noting that much of this detail should already be available to the Council as it is utilised within its RISO report. - An assessment of the impact of third party works on the city's infrastructure e.g. utility works and how the Council can best ensure that these parties rectify any damage caused by these works. - An assessment of the potential to link up a programme of significant road and footway repairs with carrying out other works such as drainage repair/upgrades or traffic changes. - An assessment of the capacity of both the Council and its contractors to undertake such a scale of work and on what timeframe this could take place. - To write to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy providing her with an up-to-date estimate of the cost to repair Glasgow's roads and footways and the required capital/revenue to allow this to be carried out and to further request that the Scottish Government take this into consideration as part of Glasgow's funding settlement in future financial years. - An assessment of the potential ways in which to fund this that are available to the Council in the short, medium and long-term. This Council instructs the Chief Executive that this work should be presented to the Council no later than 6 months following the 2022 Local Government Elections." Help Icon

This is the list of documents available for the submission By Councillor Thomas Kerr:- "This Council expresses its deep dissatisfaction with the current condition of the city's roads and footways and its concern over the current plans for their repair which are unlikely to deliver the improvement that the city's infrastructure needs and deserves. In the Council's most recent Roads Infrastructure Status and Options Report (RISO), it was noted that carriageway condition deteriorated for the first time since 2013 to 70.5% of carriageways in acceptable condition. In addition, this report highlighted that customer satisfaction, as measured by the household survey, is at its lowest level for carriageways since 2011 at 18% with footway condition falling to 39%. While the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact in slowing down the rate of repairs at certain points, it has been clear for some years that the city's roads and pavements are in a poor condition. The Council's RISO report noted that to bring carriageways up to "Best Condition in Over a Decade" would cost £15.5 million annually over 5 years with a 20-year investment of £250 million. To bring footways up to the Gold/Silver Standard would cost £3.97 million with a 20-year investment of £50.48 million. Further to this, a recent Freedom of Information request confirmed that Glasgow currently has an outstanding bill to repair its known road and footway repairs of £96 million. In the Budget Report tabled at the Council meeting of 17/02/22, it was noted that the Council plans the following capital investment in carriageways and footways: - Carriageways: £4.5 million (2022/23), £5.2 million (2023/24) and £6.5 million (2024/25). - Footways: NIL (2022/23), £300,000 (2023/24) and £300,000 (2024/25) The Council recognises its financial challenges in funding such works. However, it is clear that the current investment proposals are extremely unlikely to allow the city to bring its roads and footways to a "Best in a Decade"/Gold standard or to seek to bring all roads and footways up to a good standard with only new maintenance required. Even if all of the capital that the 2022/23 budget seeks to make available for potential use on roads and footways by Area Partnerships was directed to this task alone, over a three-year period the Council would still be significantly adrift of the resource required to bring roads and footways up to good condition. This Council expresses its view that the city's residents deserve to have good quality infrastructure to allow them to move about the city in an efficient manner. It is self-evident that if we are to encourage more of our citizens to take up active travel options that we require to provide the infrastructure to allow this to be done safely and that at its most basic level this will require having roads and footways in good condition. For example, the personal injury that a cyclist or pedestrian could suffer from a pothole or road/pavement defect is much more significant than that of a vehicle driver. Further, this Council recognises the significant cost to road users - cyclists, car drivers, bus operators, LGV/HGV operators and others - for the repair of damage to cycles and vehicles caused by potholes and road defects. To allow for Councillors to consider the best way to put in place a serious and costed plan to tackle the significant damage to our city's roads and pavements, this Council instructs the Chief Executive to prepare the following: - An up-to-date assessment of the cost of repairing ALL of the city's identified road and pavement defects to allow the Council to come to a point where it only requires to undertake repairs to new defects - noting that much of this detail should already be available to the Council as it is utilised within its RISO report. - An assessment of the impact of third party works on the city's infrastructure e.g. utility works and how the Council can best ensure that these parties rectify any damage caused by these works. - An assessment of the potential to link up a programme of significant road and footway repairs with carrying out other works such as drainage repair/upgrades or traffic changes. - An assessment of the capacity of both the Council and its contractors to undertake such a scale of work and on what timeframe this could take place. - To write to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy providing her with an up-to-date estimate of the cost to repair Glasgow's roads and footways and the required capital/revenue to allow this to be carried out and to further request that the Scottish Government take this into consideration as part of Glasgow's funding settlement in future financial years. - An assessment of the potential ways in which to fund this that are available to the Council in the short, medium and long-term. This Council instructs the Chief Executive that this work should be presented to the Council no later than 6 months following the 2022 Local Government Elections.".

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Name Type of Document Access View Document
Item Minute - 31 March 2022 Minute Public Open Document in PDF Format
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