Issue - meetings

An opportunity for Members to discuss and scrutinise the Departmnet’s improvement priorities and measures.

To accept the report, noting the observations made during the discussion.⁠

The report was presented by the Cabinet Member for Highways, Engineering and YGC, along with the Head and Assistant Head of the Highways, Engineering and YGC Department.

It was reported that the Department was leading on three projects in the Council Plan 2023-2028, namely 'Extending opportunities for play and socialising for the county's children and young people' as part of the Tomorrow's Gwynedd priority as well as 'Acting on Flood Risks' and 'Clean and Tidy Communities' as part of the Green Gwynedd priority. It was elaborated that the information presented for this meeting set out the Department's progress against the projects' milestones for 2024-2025 as well as data on the Department's services' performance measures.

During the debate, the following comments were made by Members:

Highway Maintenance - Condition of Roads

The Department was thanked for submitting data on pothole inspections and were asked for more information on response times to public enquiries about the condition of roads. In response, the Head of Department apologised that this data on response time statistics had not been included in the Report, explaining that this was due to a problem with the software. It was explained that this data would be included when reporting to this Committee in the future. It was explained that inspectors immediately assessed calls concerning the condition of roads and it was noted that work was carried out on a road within two hours if it was assessed to be a critical problem. It was reported that other enquiries were resolved by the end of the following working day in order to be able to schedule and package work effectively. Confidence was expressed by the Department that it was able to meet these timetables.

Some Members expressed frustration that road resurfacing after reporting a pothole did not last in the long term. In response, the Head of Department explained that every effort was made to cut out a larger section of the road in order to be able to better fill the hole and to a high standard, but this was not possible on all occasions, therefore staff resurfaced the road using tar from buckets. It was recognised that this could have an impact on the quality of the road and the Department would consider the comments further. It was elaborated that the Department had received grant funding of £8 million over a two-year period to deal with road condition issues, noting that reporting on response rates to reports of potholes and finding ways to prevent them from appearing was key to the application.

Street Services

It was pointed out that only 23 Fixed Penalty Notices were paid during 2023-24 for cases of dog owners not clearing up after their dog. In response, the Head of Department shared his frustration with this challenge, explaining that these figures were low because enforcement officers had to witness the dog fouling and the owner not clearing it up. He explained that this was very challenging and added that there were not a lot  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8