Agenda item

To present a review of the County’s roadside maintenance arrangements.

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

2.    That the Committee receives an update in a year’s time.

The report was presented by the Cabinet Member for Highways, Engineering and YGC, Head of Highways, Engineering and YGC and the Assistant Head of Department. Reference was made to the following main points: 

Members were reminded that current arrangements were in place for grass cutting and maintenance of county road verges twice a year. It was noted that the Department operated in any area with a road restriction of up to 30mph and that external contractors operated in other areas of the county. It was detailed that this external contract would end within the year and the Department would be looking into renewing it.

Attention was drawn to several statutory duties to maintain and improve biodiversity and promote the resilience of ecosystems, noting the need for public authorities in Wales to meet them. Section 6 of the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 was mentioned, which placed a duty on public authorities to make biodiversity a natural and integral part of policies and projects. It was explained that the Department exceeded these requirements in ensuring that it sowed as part of biodiversity trials, as there was no requirement to do so.

It was reported that the Department had been collaborating with the Biodiversity Service to undertake trials along the A499 and A497 road verges in Dwyfor since October 2022. It was explained that the trials would continue in this area for three years to collect data. It was confirmed that the purpose of the trials was to ensure that changes were being made to encourage vegetation and biodiversity and to promote wildlife in the area. It was explained that the eight locations had been selected as they were straight, wide and long and that it was possible to receive and analyse rational data from the trials. It was assured that the results received so far were encouraging as well as the fact that the Department was receiving positive feedback from the public. It was emphasised that health and safety was a priority for the Department and, therefore, there would be no delay in grass cutting near any access or junction due to the trials as trial areas had been restricted to long, straight and wide roads. Members were invited to contact the department if concerns arose regarding any access or junction that needed to be cut more frequently than the current arrangement of twice a year.

It was confirmed that the trials continued to be held and they were growing. It was detailed that other areas in Gwynedd had been identified to extend the trials to Meirionnydd. Attention was drawn to the fact that other bodies adopted the same principles to comply with the statutory duties.

In response to an enquiry about the public's awareness of new risks that could arise such as ticks, it was confirmed that this was beyond the Department's remit but officers would contact the Public Protection Service for additional information.

It was recognised that litter thrown onto road verges continued to be a challenge. It was noted that arrangements were in place to ensure that the grass cutting teams shared their work programmes with the cleaning teams to ensure that litter was picked up as soon as possible. It was elaborated that the department was collaborating with the street cleaning service to try to prevent people from throwing litter from their vehicles.

A member suggested that collaboration should be undertaken with community centres and examine the possibility of creating wildlife meadows.

The officers were thanked for their work noting that it improved the morale of public transport users as well as improving the environment.

RESOLVED

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

2.    That the Committee receives an update in a year's time.