Local Highway Panels - Terms of Reference

• that as far as possible that recommended schemes meet ECC policies, strategies and standards and have due regard to the advice from officers.
• that any schemes submitted to the Cabinet Member for Highway Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport for approval which do not meet ECC policies, strategies and standards are clearly identified as such and are made on the basis of a decision of all LHP members present and voting at a meeting having considered all alternative measures.
• that LHP schemes do not conflict with other known programmes of work including those funded by third parties.

The LHP is also responsible for:

• Providing local knowledge to the annual Casualty reduction programme.
• Monitoring the delivery of the annual LHP programme.
• Considering and responds to any requests referred to the LHP by other council constituted bodies, panels or groups.

Schemes included within the LHP delivery programme may not be deliverable within one financial year.

If the scheme requires land that is not within the highway boundary or within ECC ownership then the scheme cannot be included in the delivery programme until the land negotiations have been completed.

Initial design work will be required in order to commence land negotiations.

The LHP cannot allocate funding to the scheme delivery until the land negotiation phase has been completed.

Where the scheme constitutes major works (i.e. a project with a cost of more than £500,000), the LHP is responsible for ensuring that it is redirected to the major projects team.

Membership

An LHP has been established for each Borough, City and District in Essex.

All County Councillors with exception of the Cabinet Member for Highway Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport and the Leader of the Council will be voting members of the respective Local Highway Panel.

The Chairman of the LHP may, or may not, additionally invite up to Four Borough/City/District Councillors (or three in the case of Maldon) to be members of the LHP. They will have full voting rights.

The Chair of a Local Highway Panel (except Harlow which is unparished) may, or may not, invite one Parish Representative who will be nominated by the Essex Association of Local Council (EALC), and who will have full voting rights.

Each LHP Chair will be appointed by the Cabinet Member for Highways Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport and will usually be a County Member. The LHP Chair will appoint another member of the LHP to be Vice Chair. The Vice Chair can be either a County or a Borough/City/District Member.

LHP Members can nominate another Councillor from their District authority to substitute for them and attend meetings on their behalf if they are unable to attend. The LHP member who is appointing a substitute for a particular meeting must notify this to the person organising the meeting no later than the start of the meeting. Any substitute will have voting rights.

The composition of the Local Highway Panels are not required to reflect any political apportionment of Essex County Council. The ECC Cabinet Member for Highways Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport with responsibility for LHPs and their deputies are entitled to all attend LHP meetings.

The LHP Chair may invite additional Borough, City, District and Parish representatives to attend the LHP but they will not have voting rights.

The Cabinet Member for Highways Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport may increase the number of parish representatives in a particular case at their discretion following discussion with the relevant LHP Chair.

Meetings

LHP meetings should be held quarterly. Meetings may be held in person, or via a remote or hybrid system.

The LHP meeting will be quorate if at least three people are present, including the Chair or Vice Chair.

Where a Member is unable to attend a meeting, he or she can submit a written representation on a particular item.

The LHP meetings are not open to attendance by the public or the press other than by specific invitation of the Chair. Meetings are not broadcast.

The Chair can invite non-Members to attend LHPs to provide specialist advice or information.

Essex Highways will provide officer support to the LHPs. The secretariat and meeting room may be provided by the Borough, City or District Council or by Essex County Council but this may be changed in agreement with the Cabinet Member for Highways Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport.

The public may submit written questions regarding the LHP to the LHP Panel. These questions will either be answered in writing, or the Chair may invite the questioner to attend the meeting to receive the answer orally.

A programme of meeting dates for the full financial year will be agreed and published in advance to ensure that preparations can be made for reporting.

Any request for an LHP to operate outside these rules will require a formal decision by the Cabinet Member for Highways Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport. Recommendations agreed by LHP Members must be clearly minuted.

Actions must clearly identify the responsible person including the Highways Liaison Officer.

Information Sharing and Resources

Agendas will be posted on the ECC LHP webpage, normally at least 28 days before the meeting.

Late items may be added to the agenda with the agreement of the LHP Chair.

Minutes will be updated on the ECC LHP webpage within one month of the LHP meeting.

The Schemes Awaiting Funding List will be updated onto the website in line with the quarterly meetings.

The Funded Schemes List will be updated on the website on the 1st of each month.

Briefing notes and agendas must be prepared in line with the ECC communications policy. Written material should be in arial font at a minimum 12-point size.

Decisions on recommended schemes taken by the Cabinet Member for Highways Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport will be published on the ECC website under the standard governance rules via the CMA (Cabinet Member Action) process.

LHPs will use the standard templates for agenda, minutes, scheme lists and work programmes so that there is consistency across all LHPs.

LHP funding

Each year the LHP will be allocated a sum by the Cabinet Member for Highways Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport.

The City/ Borough/District Councils and Essex County Council may provide further funding to the LHP. Parishes, Districts, Boroughs and the City have the opportunity to pay for schemes identified via the Local Highway Panels in their entirety, applications for schemes are made in the same way however payment will be via the third party process. If Parish Councils, District, Borough or City Councils would like to fund or part fund any schemes, applications should be made via the Local Highway Panel.

The Chair’s Panel is allocated its own additional funding.

Each LHP will make recommendations about the annual prioritised capital funded schemes. The full list of categories for capital funded schemes which are to be managed by the Local Highways Panel is as follows:

All scheme requests will be submitted by the County Member for that division. If the local County Member disagrees with the panel recommendation they may appeal to the Cabinet Member for Highways Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport.

Casualty Reduction Schemes

Casualty reduction schemes are prioritised annually by Essex Highways and presented to the relevant Local Highway Panel at the December/January meeting. Collisions are analysed over the previous 3 years (January to December). Before analysis can commence, the most recent annual collision data (Jan to Dec) must be signed off by the Department for Transport. The collision analysis is undertaken across the County and sites are prioritised on the basis of those that can be effectively treated with engineering measures to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions.

The Cabinet Member for Highways Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport will receive recommendations for the Casualty Reduction before the end of the calendar year.

Once approved these will be included in the next annual LHP programme or funded from other funding allocations as set out as follows:

Schemes up to the value of funding agreed by the Cabinet Member for on an annual basis will be included in the LHP’s annual programme of work.

• Schemes above the individual LHP budget allocation up to £500k will need to be considered by the Cabinet Member for and funding source determined.
• Schemes over £500k will be considered for alternative capital funding based on their business cases and forecast reduction in casualties.

Prioritisation and delivery of Casualty Reduction Schemes must conform to the County’s Statutory Duty.

LHP to Major Schemes

Where schemes are identified whose predicted costs are above the LHP budget, funding decisions  will need to be made by the Cabinet Member for Highways Infrastructure and Sustainable Transport regarding funding allocation. If the predicted scheme costs exceed £500,000 the scheme will be classed as a major intervention and will be removed from the LHP priorities list.  Instead that scheme will follow the major schemes development process.

If the project is eligible for advanced scheme design there is still no guarantee that the scheme will be delivered as an appropriate source of funding will need to be identified for example the Local Enterprise Partnership.