Recent Budget announcements of emergency funding for maintenance will do little to bring the highway network up to standard and will do nothing to address the skills shortage, says the Road Surface Treatments Association (RSTA).

Decades of budget cuts and under investment has forced local authorities to adopt expensive, short term patch and mend rather than instigate programmes of planned cost effective, long term maintenance, adds the RSTA. The additional £200M to repair potholes plus the £140M to tackle roads damaged by this year’s extreme rainfall and flooding underlines Government’s piecemeal approach to addressing the chronic lack of funding for road maintenance which needs £12Bn to address the maintenance backlog, it added.

In addition to the continued deterioration of the road network the cutting of highway budgets has had a human cost, the RSTA continues. Many experienced highway engineers and operatives have been made redundant or taken early retirement. They have not been replaced or, if they have, there are very limited funds for the training once provided by local highways authorities.

“If road maintenance surface treatments are to be correctly carried out then a well trained and competent workforce is essential,” said RSTA chief executive Howard Robinson. “It is essential for quality of work, improved health and safety, better value and increased productivity.” 

Given these benefits, cutbacks in training budgets may seem self defeating but such are the financial pressures facing local authorities many are being forced to cut their training programmes and expenditure.

“We are in danger of losing a generation of skills and expertise due to short term financial savings,” added Robinson.

Local authorities have increasingly turned to trade associations to provide training programmes. Established as an industry sector focus, trade associations are well placed to provide a training resource. The RSTA has invested in and developed a comprehensive CPD approved training programme specific to the road maintenance sector.

The programme offers training in surface dressing, slurry surfacing, high friction surfacing and carbon foot-printing. In addition a series of Toolbox seminars showcases all available road surface treatments.

Where appropriate the CPD training courses are linked to Sector Scheme 13 for the supply and application of road surface treatments and RSTA is able to access CITB grants to deliver training for operatives at NVQ level 2 and for supervisors at NVQ level 3. RSTA deliver courses all over the UK and Ireland and often these are in-house courses for highway authorities, consultants and contractors which provides economies of scale benefits. Over the past two years RSTA has trained a thousand people ranging from operatives to contracts managers.

“With many employees being made redundant or taking early retirement it is imperative that a skilled highways maintenance workforce is not just developed but also replenished,” said Robinson. 

“The availability of recognised industry training programmes not only counteracts the potential skills gap but also demonstrates the opportunity for career development and so makes the sector more attractive to new recruits.”

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