Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors, Bawn, Dickinson, Jones, Murphy and Wearmouth

The minutes of the Castle Morpeth Local Area Committee held on Monday 13 January 2925, as circulated, to be agreed as a true record and be signed by the Chair.

The minutes of the Castle Morpeth Local Area Committee held on Monday 13 January 2025, as circulated, were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

The report sets out the details of the draft Local Transport Plan (LTP) Highway Maintenance programmes for 2025-26 for consideration and comment by the Local Area Committee, prior to final approval of the programme by the Executive Director for Place and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Improving our Roads and Highways.

The report set out the details of the draft Local Transport Plan (LTP) Highway Maintenance programmes for 2025-26 for consideration and comment by the Local Area Committee, prior to final approval of the programme by the Executive Director for Place and Regeneration in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Improving our Roads and Highways.  An updated version of each appendix was circulated to Members with the changes highlighted.  A copy of this would be filed with the signed minutes.  An introduction to the report was provided by I Raine, Highways Infrastructure Manager who advised of the process involved in bringing these items forward which was very much based on data and evidence from a variety of sources. 

The programme had been developed on the basis of a total expected capital settlement of £28.693m which was made up of allocations from both the North East Combined Authority through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement and NCC through the Medium Term Financial Plan, although both elements were still subject to formal approval by both bodies. 

The expected settlement had been allocated across the various infrastructure assets with:

•         £2.245m for sustainable transport schemes – as shown in Appendix A

•         £2.210m for Network Safety schemes – as detailed in Appendix B

•         £17.545m for Carriageway schemes – as shown in Appendix C

•         £4.193m for Bridges, Structures and Landslips – as shown in Appendix D

•         A further £2.5m for carriageway schemes (funded through the MTFP pothole fund from NCC) as detailed in Appendix E

Confirmation of the detail behind the additional pothole fund that had been announced by Central Government in the October budget statement was still awaited and it was not known how this would impact on the CRSTS allocation.

Information would be provided to Councillor Foster in relation to her query regarding Stakeford Lane. She advised that design fees had been funded by herself and Councillor Murphy but the scheme had never appeared. 

It was clarified that all comments and requests from Councillors were entered into the SAM system.  The data was then interpreted with a score provided and each section ranked highest to lowest priority.   This was refreshed on an annual basis.   The inclusion of Concrete Road refurbishment had been included as a new element this year and schemes would be prioritised on available data. 

Councillor Dunn expressed disappointment that nothing had been done to the bridge end of the Right of Way on the Ellington to Linton Road as she had thought that the bridge would have been repaired along with the path as this could not be accessed by push chairs/wheel chair users or cyclists.   The Area Officer would be asked to inspect issues with rusting signs which had not been replaced but had been marked closed on Fix My Street (FMS).  The high number of accidents on the bridge on the coast road between Lynemouth and Cresswell was also highlighted as an issue. 

It was clarified that anecdotal evidence provided by Councillors would be taken  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

The next meeting of the Local Area Council will be on Monday 10 March 2025 in the Council Chamber, County Hall at 5.00 pm or on the rising of the Local Area Planning Committee.

The next meeting was scheduled for Monday 10 March 2025.