In this issue:■The Highways England Customer Panel

■A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme

■Supplier recognition awards in January

■A new framework for monitoring Highways England’s performance

■Partnership aiming to take stress out of holiday travel

■Keeping our network free from litter

Welcome to

iHighwaysMay 2016

The Highways England Customer Panel

The Customer Panel is an online portal which is administered by the leading market research agency Ipsos MORI. It has a broadly representative membership base of around 2,000 users of the Strategic Road Network and hosts a wide range of both qualitative and quantitative activities.

Engaging directly with road users in this way we are able to assess customer awareness, sentiment and gain important customer insight on projects which will help determine and shape our future key priorities.

The Customer Panel was launched in December 2015. To date we have had an impressive response – with nearly 3000 survey responses and almost 1000 forum comment contributions. These are just a few examples of projects that the Customer Panel has been able to support us with so far:

� Smart Motorways – We learnt that 68% of respondents had no idea what Smart Motorways are. This information will help to shape future campaigns.

� Expressways – We gained valuable customer sentiment on the new Expressways concept. Overall panellists were satisfied and receptive to the proposal.

� Variable message signs – Through the Customer Panel we developed five brand new legends to improve the level of communication on our network.

Why not check out the new Customer Panel and become a member yourself?

https://highwayscustomerpanel.ipsos-space.com/home

Please note that the Customer panel online platform is only open when research projects are active. This is usually during the first two weeks of each month. At all other times the Customer panel platform will be in ‘hibernation’ mode.

Highways England has a customer satisfaction target of 90%. If we are to meet this commitment it is vital we understand our customers’ perceptions and what they want from the services we provide.

Key to this is the creation of a Customer Panel and this was set out in our Strategic Business Plan and Delivery Plan for 2015-2020.

Subject to the Transport Secretary’s decision, the proposed scheme is on target to start in late 2016. The new bypass and widened A14 would open to traffic in 2020.

Further information on the scheme can be found at www.highways.gov.uk/A14C2H.

A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme

The existing A14 trunk road between Cambridge and Huntingdon does not have enough capacity for either current or future traffic levels. Congestion is a regular occurrence and there are weekly lane and carriageway closures due to traffic incidents.

The government has committed to improve this stretch of road. Following a public inquiry (Development Consent Order examination), the Planning Inspectorate has sent its recommendation to the Secretary of State and his decision is expected this month.

The proposed improvements cover 21 miles of road and aim to:

� combat congestion � improve safety  for road users and

communities � unlock economic growth, both regionally

and nationally

� improve local connectivity and improve the local road network for all types of road user

� leave a positive legacy in Cambridgeshire

Upgrades include a major new bypass to the south of Huntingdon, widening part of the existing A14 between Swavesey and Girton, widening part of the A14 Cambridge Northern Bypass, widening a section of the A1 between Brampton and Alconbury and demolition of the A14 viaduct at Huntingdon.

Building strong partnerships is an important part of the work we are doing and key to this has been the interactions with local authorities, which has enabled the progression of the scheme.

The improvements will be funded through a combination of contributions from central government, and the local authorities and local enterprise partnerships that will directly benefit from the improvements.

The majority of the funding for the £1.5 billion scheme will be provided by the government with a contribution of up to £100 million from 14 local funding partners. This local funding will be paid over a 25 year period beginning in the scheme’s year of opening.

Supporting and protecting our ‘soft estate’

Kier also came up trumps in our Supplier Recognition Awards alongside two companies from the extended supply chain, Treeconomics and Evans and Associates. This was for their work in valuing the ‘soft estate’ in its Area 1 contract (Devon and Cornwall).

They received the ‘delivering sustainable value and solutions’ award for their innovative approach adapting software from the United States Forest Service.

The approach was to survey and calculate the benefits of existing tree species. They used the American i-Tree software to incorporate a monetary value in their report. This could now become part of Highways England future sustainability reporting. It should help us make better decisions managing our soft estate, while ensuring the planted trees can flourish.

Supplier recognition awards in January

Several companies in the Highways England supply chain have won recognition for their recruitment of former armed services personnel into the industry.

Kier and First Military: Left to right: Kevin Cotterell (Kier), Wayne Sparling (Kier), Rob Dance (Kier), Nick Lyons (First Military)

One of our contractors, Kier, worked with First Military Recruitment. Using a rigorous recruitment process, they appointed 11 new workers to the company’s Area 3 contract (covering Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire).

This earned them a special mention at the recent Supplier Recognition Awards for using this pool of highly trained people. People who bring initiative, great team working skills and flexibility to the business.

We have an important goal at Highways England: that no-one should come to harm when travelling or working on our motorways and A-roads. We are finding the ex-servicemen and women joining us a bonus here as they already have a good understanding of health and safety. They often have a professional safety qualification for example. Other useful skills from their service days include HGV driving and experience of working under pressure.

Kier is helping us to promote diversity and inclusion in the highways industry.  It looks to recruit talent with backgrounds in different sectors. It has also shared and promoted this recruitment approach with its sub-contractors. One of these is now also working with First Military.

In a similar initiative, Chevron Traffic Management is working with the British Forces Resettlement Services to recruit former army, navy and air force personnel. This won Chevron the ‘building capacity and capability’ award. Already 15 new recruits have joined their business this way. That’s around 3 per cent of the company’s total workforce.

highlight the value of roads reform, how the new governance structure is functioning and the

benefits to Highways England’s customers.

There is clear evidence that the last 12 months of working with ORR and Transport Focus have been both challenging and beneficial to our business. Looking ahead, there are further challenges but this is to be expected at the beginning of a journey to transform strategic road delivery.

The Infrastructure Act 2015 sets out the respective roles of each organisation these are further supported by:

Highways England’s Framework document and Licence to operate

Monitoring Highways England – the monitoring framework

Performance monitoring templates and guidelines

Memorandum of Understanding with Transport Focus and DfT

A new framework for monitoring Highways England’s performance

In April 2015, the Government reformed the governance of strategic roads. This new model for delivery is different from other infrastructure sectors – however parallels and lessons have been learnt from Rail and other regulated industries. Highways England is an individual government owned company, with the Office Road & Rail –ORR, monitoring our performance and Transport Focus representing the interests of road users.

The new approach has created space for Highways England and the ORR to shape and establish an effective and sustainable relationship which can evolve with experience. Developing our capability and knowledge together has been a positive learning experience for both sides; generating a tension that challenges the status quo and will form a precedent for collaboration going forward.

In December 2015 the ORR, produced their first six month report on Highways England’s performance. It reflected on a positive start made to this Road Period exceeding a number of targets, and broadly delivering in line with our investment programme. It also set out a number

of areas of improvement for year-end and for the longer term.

In parallel we have been developing and embedding a number of changes we committed to in our Delivery Plan, a coordinated data improvement plan to govern and develop the use of data for strategic benefit, and incremental changes to improve our corporate reporting. We’ve also been working closely with the ORR on a number of key areas, such as the development of our capital programme, efficiency reporting and development of their benchmarking plan.

As we approach the end of the first year of operation, we are providing the ORR with the data they need to produce their first annual report on Highways England performance. This is an important time for both organisations to

One reason for this could be the maintenance of caravans and trailers after standing idle over the winter. Coverage on the Met Office website links directly to the National Caravan Council’s approved workshop scheme giving holidaymakers the opportunity to book a caravan service before they travel.

We would like to be working with other partners in a similar way – providing helpful information to your customers and helping to make our roads safer in the process.If you would like to know about joint communications activity, where we have related messages or overlapping audiences and could work in partnership please email:

Marketing@highwaysengland.co.uk

Partnership aiming to take stress out of holiday travel

When you are planning a day trip or a short break, what do you check first: the weather forecast or the traffic?In most cases the traffic will be what you check after you’ve decided when and where to go for a sunshine break. That’s why we seek to reach our customers early, to keep road users informed as they are making their travel plans.

The weather of course does have a very real impact. Severe weather can disrupt travel while good weather affects demand by leading to increased traffic volume on key leisure routes.

Our communications team works with the Met Office around winter travel and summer holidays.

In winter it is the Met Office website that hosts the pan-Government ‘Get Ready for Winter’ campaign co-ordinated by colleagues at the Cabinet Office. The site provides a portal for seasonal support and advice – from keeping warm in the home and winter-related health issues, through to business resilience and, of course, all forms of travel in severe weather.

In hot weather we link up with the Met Office to help people plan their holiday journeys.

The issues at this time of year may be less obvious to when there is snow on the roads, but preparing your vehicle for the long journey is still important. Allowing the right time for the journey reduces the frustration and impatience that sometimes leads to drivers taking risks. There can still be wind and rain to disrupt travel, even in summer – plus the driver and passenger fatigue that needs to be considered on long journeys is made worse in hot weather.

A particular issue around this time of year is the relatively higher proportion of caravan towing incidents at the start of the season.

The video features ‘grab-cam’ footage where a camera was secured to a litter grabber to show a few of the thousands of individual pieces of litter collected every year from England’s roads.You can watch the time-lapse video at this link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cICUdLsvqkk

To report instances of debris or litter on our network members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Keeping our network free from litter

More than 3,000 sacks of litter were collected from England’s motorways during a 3 day spring clean in early March – that’s enough to reach the top of The Shard nearly 5 times over if they were stacked end-to-end.

Highways England routinely collects rubbish from motorways throughout the year and last month its contractors’ litter clearing activity coincided with the national Clean for the Queen initiative to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday.

Workers targeted litter hotspots on motorways across England between Friday 4 and Sunday 6 March and collected 3,188 sacks of rubbish.

More than 150,000 sacks of litter are collected by Highways England’s contractors every year as part of routine maintenance work – an average of 411 bags every day. It costs over £40 to collect each sack – roughly the same cost as fixing a pothole. Highways England director Robert Castleman said:“Our contractors collect vast amounts of litter from motorways every year but we’d much rather they spend their time fixing potholes and carrying out other essential maintenance work.

“We targeted known litter hotspots last month and it would be great if these hotspots remained free of litter in the weeks and months ahead.“Roadside litter can lead to hazards for other motorists if it is thrown from moving vehicles, cause a threat to wildlife and lead to flooding if drains become blocked. It also puts the workers who are collecting the rubbish from the side of busy motorways at risk. “So I’d urge everyone to keep a bag in their car which they can use for rubbish, and then put it in the bin when they get home!”

Highways England has also released a time-lapse video showing the build-up of litter at junction 2 of the M606 near Bradford – a known litter hotspot.

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