LCRIG Content Director Alec Peachey is conducting a series of interviews with highways professionals from councils to shine a light on some of the challenges facing local highway authorities. This week, Vala Valavan, Director of Highways & Traffic Management at Waltham Forest Council highlights the reasons why the council is at the forefront of innovation and how it continues to work with the supply chain to reduce carbon emissions.
Q. What is the scale of the network that your authority is responsible for?
A. The London Borough of Waltham Forest is a local authority in North East London. The population is approximately 271,000 with an area of 38.78 sq km of which 25.80 sq km is urban.
The authority maintains 451km of carriageway, 727km of footway, approximately 16,500 light columns, 19,000 drainage gullies and over 100 highway structures. This figure has remained stable over the past five years. However, there has been a huge increase in active travel infrastructure built and maintained by the authority through the Enjoy Waltham Forest Programme:
| Asset Type | Pre-2015 | 2021 | Unit |
| Segregated Cycleway | 3 | 42 | Km |
| Cycle Hub | 2 | 13 (4 in construction) | No |
| Bikehangers | 0 | 507 | No |
| Electric Vehicle Charging – Lamp Column | 0 | 120 | No |
| Electric Vehicle Charging – Free Standing | 0 | 31 | No |
| Electric Vehicle Charging – Rapid | 0 | 4 | No |
“This requires new ways of maintaining assets.”
Q. What are the biggest challenges facing you as a local authority?
A. “The biggest challenges that are facing us a local authority are connecting people with jobs, and ensuring they are able to commute safely and sustainably, enabling residents to have safe and healthy lives by providing space and facilities to walk and cycle, developing our 15-minute neighbourhood model so that every one of our residents can easily access what they need to live a fulfilling and healthy life within their local area, and working to build an inspiring future for Waltham Forest.
“In highways in particular Covid-19 has brought about a range of challenges including changes in funding, staff resources, and training and development opportunities, however we have adapted to and embraced these to carry out work in an innovative and agile way.”
Q. How has your highways team adapted to the challenges brought about by Covid-19?
“LBWF’s Highways and Traffic Management Team has excelled in adapting to challenges brought about by Covid–19. At the start of the pandemic the management team had daily meetings with the term contractors to replicate working in the depot.
“LBWF worked with its contractors to develop safe methods of working so that from the beginning of May the service was able to deliver business as usual projects. This was initially reallocating road space for pedestrians as part of Transport for London’s StreetSpace programme. As the year has progressed, LBWF has delivered almost £10million of projects and maintenance, as set out at the start of year.
“The depot is a Covid-secure working environment for members of staff that are unable to carry out their work from home. There is also on-site testing available for contractors and staff, alongside electric pool bikes to enable staff to undertake site visits without using public transport.”
Q. How much importance is put on innovation within your authority and in what ways can it enable change?
“LBWF is at the forefront of innovation, particularly with our focus on sustainable transport. Since 2014 £50million, including £27million of ‘Mini-Holland’ funding from Transport for London, has been invested to improve infrastructure and encourage a modal shift from private car to walking and cycling. The resulting ‘Enjoy Waltham Forest’ programme focuses on a range of infrastructural and behaviour change initiatives to ensure freedom, choice and healthier lifestyles for both novice and experienced cyclists and pedestrians alike. We have focused on utilising digital channels to engage with residents, including the Commonplace online engagement platform, which enables us to easily co-create and design schemes in an inclusive and transparent way. As a result, in 2020 we saw a record number of people using our cycle routes, with an average 56% more journeys recorded by our cycle counters compared to 2019.
“Industry experts have also benefitted from the innovative work that we have introduced, as we have now held over 60 free study tours for other local authorities, campaign groups and government officials who we shared knowledge and best practice with on how to deliver value for money. Subsequently, an announcement was made in February 2020 by the Prime Minister who pledged £1billion to support “mini-Hollands in towns and cities across the country” which showcases the ability for wider implementation in Britain and beyond.
“Waltham Forest was also the first Council in the UK to facilitate the introduction of a zero emissions delivery service in its borough. The service primarily targets local businesses and council services and utilises cargo bikes, trikes, and electric vehicles to courier goods within the borough and beyond. Originally supported by a grant from the Mayor’s Air Quality Fund, the service is now financially sustainable and has been key in supporting businesses to continue operating during the pandemic.
“LBWF has been working through its LED conversion programme. Since 2010 approximately 6,300 carbon tonnes have been saved through this programme. LBWF is also trialling the use of warm-mix asphalt.”
Q. In what ways do you collaborate with other authorities and the supply chain?
A. “LBWF has been working with JB Riney Ltd’s parent company Tarmac to help reduce carbon emissions during the resurfacing process. LBWF trialled using warm mix asphalt in its 2020/21 resurfacing programme. This rollout will be continued in 2021/22 and if fully implemented could save over 33.5 tonnes/CO2e per year. It also has additional benefits of improving productivity, earlier re-opening of roads to traffic, and improved safety in the working environment due to the lower temperatures.
“LBWF works very closely with its contractors and supply chain. LBWF’s main partners, including highways, lighting and parking contractors, alongside ZED operators are co–located at the depot which instils collaborative working on a daily basis.
“Most recently, we have been working in partnership with the London Borough of Newham to jointly deliver the South Leytonstone, Maryland and Forest Gate low traffic neighbourhood scheme as part of TfL’s London StreetSpace programme. By joining together to deliver the scheme across the borough boundaries we have ensured that all residents living within the area have benefitted from quieter and safer streets.”
Q. How important is the subject of the environment and what are you doing as an authority in this area?
“In April 2019, at a Full Council meeting, Waltham Forest was one of the first councils in the UK to declare a ‘Climate Emergency’ and committed to launching a Commission “to help shape our local response to this global challenge and to produce a set of policy ‘asks’ for our regional and national politicians”.
“Our previously mentioned Enjoy Waltham Forest programme has been key in our response to tackling the Climate Emergency. Kings College London was commissioned to undertake research and modelling in spring 2018 to ascertain the predicted benefits of the programme. The researchers used LAEI air quality data from 2013 and modelled the expected change in the exposure to air pollution experienced by pedestrians and cyclists in 2020, with findings indicating that on popular cycling routes exposure of NO2 is predicted to reduce by up to 25% and for PM2.5 by up to 13%.
“We believe that this is not enough though, and are continuing to roll out further schemes to reduce air pollution in the borough including over 150 electric vehicle charging points, 10 School Streets which benefit over 8,000 pupils, and ensuring that all new developments in the borough are part of our pioneering 15 minute neighbourhood model.”
Q. In terms of funding for roads, what works well and what needs to be improved?
A. “LBWF works very closely with all stakeholders to ensure funding, including Transport for London, Department for Transport, S106/S278 and revenue, is as efficiently spent as possible. LBWF has ‘shovel–ready’ schemes ready to be implemented as soon as funding becomes available which has helped us to attain our track record of delivery.
“The main issue is the level of funding as it currently falls far below what is required. TfL has cut its Principal Road Renewal funding in recent years and revenue funding has not increased.”
Q. How important is the role of LCRIG in driving change within the sector?
A. “I believe that LCRIG helps to bring together the highways community to enable collaborative working, opportunities for sharing best practice, and showcasing exemplar schemes from across the UK.”
Main picture courtesy of Simon Turner on behalf of Waltham Forest.