Transport team budget, schemes and staffing
Case reference FOI2024/00956
Received 29 May 2024
Published 7 August 2024
Request
CLARIFICATION: I refer to highways/ transport team. I refer to non maintenance capital programme approved schemes.
1) What was the last 3 years budget for transport related schemes, broken down by year?
2.a) What contractors/ software (including speed, O/D surveys, traffic count, vehicle type) are/ is used to analyse the road network before a potential scheme is added to the programme?
2.b) What is the annual cost for these, listed individually?
3) How many scheme were completed in the last 3 annual programmes, broken down by year?
4) Please could you confirm the number of staff within the team?
5) Please could you confirm the cumulative annual wage for the team?
Response
CLARIFICATION: I refer to highways/ transport team. I refer to non maintenance capital programme approved schemes.
1) What was the last 3 years budget for transport related schemes, broken down by year?
A) In answering this question the Service Area have included all of our Local Transport Plan highways capital spend (Highways maintenance and ITB funding formula allocations, 2022 to 2025 (3 years) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). They have also included other capital investment, which includes Herefordshire Council investment and other grant funding:
|
Year |
Local Transport Plan |
Other Capital Investment |
|
2023/24 |
£15.466m |
£7.765m |
|
2022/23 |
£15.466m |
£8.081m |
|
2021/22 |
£15.466m |
£8.105m |
2.a) What contractors/ software (including speed, O/D surveys, traffic count, vehicle type) are/ is used to analyse the road network before a potential scheme is added to the programme?
A) Dependent on the size and type of scheme proposed, and particularly for large schemes such as a new road or a new housing/employment site, the council may need to undertake transport modelling to understand the impact of a proposed scheme on the local transport network. In this case, we would use our new 2023 Herefordshire Strategic Transport Model (HSTM).
The Council has contracts that covers:
- Severnside Transportation Data Collection - manual data collection from all of the council’s permanent Automatic Traffic Counters (ATCs) across the county.
- Severnside Transportation Data Collection - temporary video surveys for the LTP monitoring programme including quarterly pedestrian and cycling video surveys on Holme Lacy Road and two multi-modal video surveys on the A49 (T) Ross Road.
- Vivacity Labs Ltd - multi-modal traffic sensors across the county.
- Drakewell Ltd - an online data portal that stores vehicle, pedestrian and cycle data and which can be used for analytical purposes
Surveys can also be undertaken when Traffic Regulation Order schemes are developed and these have historically been undertaken by the consultant (ADL Traffic and Highways Engineering Ltd) who has delivered the schemes. The Council currently has one order at present with Severnside Transportation Data Collection for speed surveys in multiple areas to support any speed limit change.
2.b) What is the annual cost for these, listed individually?
A) The annual cost to date for 2024/25 is £61,530.
Regarding the costs paid to each supplier listed in response to Question 2a, we consider that information to be exempt under Section 43 (1) and / or (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because disclosure would, or would be likely, to prejudice the commercial interests of the suppliers concerned.
In reaching this decision I have taken into account relevant guidance provided by the Information Commissioner's Office including whether the information in question is commercial or industrial.
Herefordshire Council is satisfied that the information to which the exemption has been applied contains information which could constitute a business secret (pricing) as well as commercial interests.
Disclosure of the withheld information would adversely affect the suppliers concerned. The withheld information consists of the amounts paid to each supplier during this financial year for the service set out in Question 2a. This information is unique to those companies, proprietary in nature and provides a detailed overview of the way that they approach such contracts. The companies have stated that disclosure of this information would be of advantage to their direct competitors, thereby negating their ability to develop a commercial advantage when tendering for this contract in the future with Herefordshire Council, or for similar contracts elsewhere.
The council accepts the legitimate economic interests of the suppliers would be likely to be prejudiced by disclosure of the information.
In coming to this decision, I have weighed up the public interest for disclosure against the public interest in not disclosing the information and the commercial interests of the suppliers as follows:
The public interest in disclosure:
Openness and transparency regarding highways contracts.
The public interest in not disclosing the information and the commercial interests of the suppliers:
The requested information forms part of the tender documents that the suppliers submitted to the council’s highways contractor, Balfour Beatty Living Places. The information was confidential and accepted based on the quotes provided and the services agreed to. Disclosure of the costs would allow competitors to improve any bids that they have supplied previously, either for work for Herefordshire Council or elsewhere, and this would give them an unfair advantage over the above suppliers without them having the advantage of holding this information about their competitors.
Procurement processes are usually conducted where costs are either the deciding factor or costs make up a significant portion of the vendor score. Disclosure would give competitors the threshold to ‘undercut’ rather than the competitor considering the council’s requirements fully and proposing what they considered to be a fair commercial costs for their product. If this information is not disclosed, all bidders would have to review the technical requirements and propose what they consider to be a fair and competitive cost for their service.
A proportion of scoring in an open procurement process is always attributed to cost. If cost alone formed the basis of a ‘lowest bid procurement’, disclosure of the requested information would give competitors the exact figure to undercut. Even a procurement with a higher proportion of a technical score (vs. costs) against a thorough requirement specification, would still have costs typically making up 20-40% of the overall vendor score.
Disclosure of information under the Freedom of Information Act is essentially a disclosure to the world at large. If this information were disclosed, and seen by competitors, and they were able to outbid the suppliers as described above, this would place those suppliers at a commercial disadvantage, lead to a loss of business and ultimately a revenue loss they could ill afford.
Taking the above into consideration, I have found the public interest in disclosing the information in this case is outweighed by the public interest in not disclosing the information. Please therefore take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act for this part of your request.
3) How many scheme were completed in the last 3 annual programmes, broken down by year?
A) The Council have completed the following number of schemes:
2021/22 = 57
2022/23 = 33
2023/24 = 39
In addition, the Councils Infrastructure Funding Statement details both section 106 and section 278 delivery on an annual basis. This information is publically available on Herefordshire Council’s website and can be viewed via the following link: Section 106 planning obligations – Herefordshire Council
Please note, there is a link to the historic Infrastructure Funding Statements at the bottom of the page that covers a 3 year period.
Furthermore, the Council has completed the following Traffic Regulation Order schemes over the past 3 years:
2022
1. Marlbrook School Parking Restrictions
2. Stretton Grandison No Overtaking TRO
3. Wyson 30mph Speed Limit Order
4. Whittern Way & Surround are controlled parking zone
2023
1. Chockbury Lane Prohibition of Motor Vehicles
2. B4224 Hampton Bishop 50mph Speed Limit
3. Green Lane, Leominster – Residents Parkins
4. Llancloudy 20mph Speed Limit
5. A438 Bridge Sollars Speed Limit Reduction
6. Hereford Residents Parking Order
7. Kent & Sussex Avenue, Ross-on-Wye – Parking restrictions & one-way
8. A4103 Newtown Cross Speed Limit reduction
9. Cruxwell Street & Sherford Street, Bromyard – Parking restrictions
10. Buckton & Kinsham Weight Restriction Revocation Order
11. Llangrove 20mph Speed limit Order
2024
1. College Road, Hereford – Parking restrictions
2. Danny Lee Walk, Tillington – 30mph Speed Limit
3. Leadon Way, Ledbury 40mph
4. B4220 Bosbury Village Speed Limit
5. B4352 Moccas Speed Limit
6. A449 Much Marcle Speed Limit
7. Welsh Border Hay-on-Wye & Presteigne 20mph Speed Limit
8. Leominster Various Roads Parking Restriction
9. John Kyrle High School (Three Crosses) Ross-On-Wye, Parking Restrictions
10. A44 Drum Crossroads Speed Limit
11. Mortimer Road & Perseverance Road, Hereford – Parking Restrictions
12. Frog Lane, Bromyard – Prohibition of Motor Vehicles
13. Aylesbrook, Hereford – Prohibition of Waiting
4) Please could you confirm the number of staff within the team?
A) There are 21 permanent and 3 contracted member of staff within the Council’s Highways and Traffic team.
There are 3 members of staff within the Transport and Access Services team dealing with Transport Planning related matters.
The Council is also supported by its Partner Contractor, Balfour Beatty Living Places.
5) Please could you confirm the cumulative annual wage for the team?
A) £1,213,549 for cumulative annual wage 2024/25
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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