The Highways Cabinet Panel of Hertfordshire County Council met on Friday 14 November 2025 to discuss a range of issues concerning the county's highways. Key decisions included noting the progress on addressing utility works on the highway and agreeing to continue efforts to improve collaboration with utility companies. The panel also discussed the challenges facing the Highways Locality Budget due to inflation and the need for a review of its administration.

Utility Works on the Highway

The panel discussed a motion raised by Councillor Matt Cowley and seconded by Councillor Vishal Patel concerning the disruption caused by utility works on Hertfordshire's roads. The motion highlighted issues such as poorly managed roadworks, unattended traffic signals, substandard repairs leading to potholes, and the inadequacy of current fines for utility companies.

In response, Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst OBE, Executive Member for Highways, reported that he had written to the Secretary of State for Transport in September 2025, outlining concerns about inadequate regulations and low fines, and requesting a review of legislation to allow local authorities to levy fines for unresolved defects and poor repairs. He also noted that the Council Leader, Councillor Steve Jarvis, and he had written to major utility companies in Hertfordshire – Affinity Water, Cadent Gas, and UKPN – to seek meetings to formalise and strengthen collaboration through a joint protocol and partnership. The panel noted the motion and the actions taken.

Highways Locality Budget

A motion proposed by Councillor Alistair Willoughby and seconded by Councillor Ian Albert regarding the Highways Locality Budget (HLB) was also discussed. The motion highlighted that the HLB has remained fixed at £90,000 per county councillor since 2010/11, while inflation has significantly increased the cost of delivering highway works. It was estimated that the budget's real-term value has decreased by approximately £45,000, limiting the scope and responsiveness of member-led improvements. The motion called for options to uplift the budget, explore an indexation mechanism, review the administration's timing and processes for greater flexibility, and improve communications about the fund's role.

The panel noted the report, acknowledging that the uplift and indexation of the HLB would need to be considered as part of the council's annual budget setting process. However, due to anticipated financial pressures from the Fair Funding Review, an inflationary increase was deemed unlikely at this time. A review of the HLB system's timing and process is ongoing and will be reported to a future panel meeting, with a focus on enabling more flexible deployment of funding. The council's Corporate Communications team will also explore ways to better publicise HLB schemes.

Trial of the 'One Visit, More Impact' Approach to Fixing Potholes

A verbal progress report was given on the trial of an alternative approach to fixing potholes, aiming to achieve more with the same resources. The trial involved two further phases in September and October 2025, using techniques such as road mender and road master (spray injection patching). While the road master technique was quicker and cheaper, it resulted in a coarser finish and some early failures. The road mender technique showed more durable results, and efforts are now focused on reducing its cost. The panel was assured that a full report with detailed findings would be presented at a future meeting.

General Update on Highway Initiatives

A general update covered several highway initiatives:

• Winter Service: The winter service gritting season began on 1 October, with the first gritting runs expected in the week of 10 November. The self-help scheme for salt bins processed 125 orders, a decrease from previous years, attributed to milder winters. A targeted approach to cleaning 520 known problematic gullies across 80 roads has commenced.
• Green Infrastructure: A trial is underway to cut back vegetation around schools and on high-priority routes to improve pedestrian and cyclist access. Fourteen initial sites around schools have been identified, with a focus on hard and deep cutting to ensure longer-lasting clearance.
• Pedestrian Guardrails: A trial is commencing for a district-based approach to replacing damaged pedestrian guardrails. This aims to replace faded and broken barriers more efficiently through a rolling programme, starting in the west of the county. The initiative seeks to improve the visual appearance and functionality of the highway network.
• Highways Customer Service Statistics: An overview of the significant volume of customer interactions with the highways service was presented, including approximately 32,000 email correspondences, nearly 30,000 telephone inquiries, 78,000 reports, and 16,000 applications and licenses processed annually. This equates to around 155,000 individual cases per year, or 3,000 per week. Efforts are underway to improve the efficiency and relevance of responses, including a system migration to Microsoft Dynamics.

The panel noted the verbal updates on these initiatives.