Arrival of Crossrail in 2019 and the prospect of a third runway at nearby Heathrow could really help to put the borough of Wokingham on the map.

 

The unitary authority in Berkshire with a population of 160,000 is set to see 15,000 homes built by 2026; many within four new strategic development locations.

 

Plans are also under way – as part of the next local plan to 2036 – to add a further 10,000 dwellings across the borough, with the possibility of 15,000 homes in a new garden settlement called Grazeley spanning Wokingham and neighbouring boroughs.

 

With the promise of so much growth the council was keen to ensure that developers contribute their fair share towards new transport links, through the Community Infrastructure Levy.

 

This includes up to £100M secured from housebuilders for five new distributor roads including several bridges to be built before 2021, when many of the new homes will be occupied.

 

Funding has also been secured in collaboration with the Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership for infrastructure enhancements including several new park and ride sites and help towards a £25M mass rapid transit scheme to improve bus access towards Reading town centre.

 

But the delivery of so much new housing, community and highway infrastructure – along with an inevitable increase in maintenance need – has also played an important part in shaping a council decision to conduct a root and branch review of how it delivers public services.

 

Next summer Wokingham Borough Council is set to complete a thorough programme of transformation to become what it calls a ‘21st Century Council’.

 

The process of change aims to generate £21M in efficiencies over five years. Measures include a review of the council’s highway services and asset management procedures, a restructuring of operations and the introduction of new ways for members of the public to interact with staff.

 

Wokingham Borough Council’s highways and transport service transition lead Alex Deans MCIHT describes the change as a “service reset” and adds that new thinking is helping to inform the manner in which all of its highway services contracts will operate when they come up for renewal from April 2019.

 

“This is a great opportunity to start with a blank sheet of paper and develop 21st Century highways and transportation services aligned to the emerging local plan until 2036,” he says. “To my mind Wokingham is one of the first unitary authorities to completely restructure its operations in this way.”

 

Work currently taking place in readiness for the change includes the production of new contract documents and revised specifications that align fully with all 36 recommendations contained in the ‘Well Managed Highways’ code of practice.

 

The borough council is also conducting a comprehensive self-assessment of its asset management processes, with the expectation of achieving compliance with band three of the Department for Transport’s Incentive Fund; thereby receiving all of its allocated highways maintenance allocations for the next financial year.

 

And the council has also carried out a thorough audit of its highway assets including 736km of roads and 250 structures to generate an overall value (£1.3Bn) that can help managers to justify the importance of spending on highways maintenance and the need for continued good stewardship.

 

Contractors working for the council, developers and utility suppliers will be encouraged to consult new planning software which tracks all projects across the borough, to identify conflicts and spot opportunities to work more effectively.

 

Elected members and the public too will soon be able to use the tool so they can understand the nature of forward plans. 

 

Wokingham’s delivery review will also see the integration of highways operations into larger corporate teams that look after strategic areas of interest such as delivery, ‘place’ and locally based services.

 

This will mean the loss of a head of highways and transport and a reduction in staff numbers of between 10 and 15%, but Alex Deans says the changes are necessary to achieve efficiencies and will not lead to a reduction in service levels.

 

Wokingham will encourage more of its residents to ‘self-serve’, using the council’s online resources to report highway defects or find the answers to queries such as when a stretch of road is set to be repaired, in order to reduce the number of telephone enquiries received.

 

The council is also introducing a new tier of officer known as a case manager to deal with specific requests for information to reduce the burden on specialist and senior staff.