LCRIG Content Director Alec Peachey is conducting a series of interviews with highways professionals from councils. This week, Steve Isaacs, – an advisor who has been employed by six authorities across the UK and indirectly worked with many more – provides an insight into some of the challenges facing local highway authorities and explains why the environment will become the number one priority in people’s daily working lives very soon.
Q. What are the biggest challenges facing local authorities?
A. “As always, they are budgetary, but it’s not about getting more money to throw at the potholes and failing roads it’s about getting value. I have come through this industry on the technical side, starting as a Technician with North Yorkshire County Council when Colonel Leach was the County Surveyor and had his name on every vehicle in the county fleet. That was in 1983. I worked up through labs becoming Materials Engineer in Wiltshire in 1993. Since then I have managed the technical aspects for four local authorities. It is always about value. Not getting the cheapest solution but getting one that lasts, is good quality and is predictable. Most if not all authorities receive sufficient funds to deliver a reasonable network, they have done so for many years now and will continue to do so.
“Potholes are a great example, some authorities spend over 20% of their highway budget on fixing potholes. £100’s of millions every year. If as a country we had acted on the advice TRL produced 10 years ago “prevention is better than cure” this would not be the case now. We know how to prevent them, deeper surface courses, early preventative maintenance with surface dressing or preservation, better management of compaction and bond coats. If we had started this 10 years ago we would have 50% less potholes to waste money on now.”
Q. How have highways teams adapted to the challenges brought about by Covid-19?
A. “Most client bodies that I work with have managed very well, many taking advantage of reduced traffic flows to fix the tricky bits! It’s also very reassuring to see everyone aware of the mental health issues that Covid-19 has brought with it, working from home for a year now could have been a very isolating experience for many but seeing the efforts authorities are making to keep in touch, use technology and manage welfare is commendable. What I do think is that we must hold on to the few good things that Covid-19 has brought like reduced travelling around the country to see clients and increase in home working. I have worked for the supply chain and regularly did 50,000 miles a year and over 100 hotel nights – Covid-19 has shown us there is another way.”
Q. How much importance is put on innovation and in what ways can it enable change?
A. “Some authorities have had innovation as their mantra for many years and others not so, One authority I have had long associations with is East Sussex, I worked with them in 2007 as Innovations Manager looking at recycling and carbon footprint and they have always been an authority looking to innovate to gain additional value. Their go to solution for their structural maintenance programme has been in-situ recycling for so long now it is not thought of as an innovation.
“It is important to remember though, innovation is not just another word for change, all to often the supply chain jumps on the innovation band wagon when it looks to save money and increase prices. Innovation is about collaboration, working between clients with an issue and suppliers helping find a solution. When all authorities had access to a technical manager and a lab they often helped develop the next good idea, now the supply chain are left to think what are the issues and find a fix. This leads to solutions that perform better on the bank balance than on the road.”
Q. In what ways do you collaborate with other authorities and the supply chain?
A. “LCRIG – either nationally or in the regions, this is fast becoming the go–to organisation for sharing ideas. To be fair the IHE, CIHE, IAT and regional groups like the MHA are all still doing their thing and are great when you need specialists. LCRIG is a quick access to all sides of our industry. The membership of clients, supply chain, RSTA and their members and also the TRL’s and BBA’s does make it stand out as my first point of call.”
Q. How important is the subject of the environment and what are you doing as an authority in this area?
A. “In 2009 I was attending regional functions in the South East to explore the impact of carbon and the environment. Now 12 years later we are picking it up again, I believe we will be making the environment the number one concern in all our daily working lives very soon. We are playing catch-up and we must succeed. The thing is we must look at this across the whole industry and we must collaborate, low carbon solutions for one authority will work for others and we need to share best practice. I think there is a need for a new group, this area is not just an add on to other organisations it needs a focus group (like the ADEPT Soils and Materials group were) it must be independent and have experts in the field. Without this we will be led by vested interests and make the wrong choices.”
Q. In terms of funding for roads, what works well and what needs to be improved?
A. “The incentive fund has so much potential, but it needs to go further, at the moment it is regarded as a tick box exercise in many authorities and it is only a stick to penalise authorities if they don’t tick as required. The solution needs to have carrots for good performers and it needs auditing for credibility. At the same time it should not be to dictatorial, there are many ways to manage highway maintenance, outputs are the key.”
Q. How important is the role of LCRIG in driving change within the sector?
A. “LCRIG is in a great place to drive change, if we can agree on what change is needed. At the end of the day it must be about giving value to the tax payer, they pay all our wages in the end. So LCRIG must be client led and focus on innovation for improvement in value. While it is doing this it is essential for driving change. For the last decade change or in some cases lack of it has been driven by the different sectors of the industry. LCRIG can address this, put the customer first and share best practice quickly.”