Herefordshire Council has confirmed that the total budget for the St Owen Street cycle lane and resurfacing has risen from £700,000 to an estimated £1.1 million.
Herefordshire Council has admitted that it has struggled to deliver all elements of the Hereford City Centre Improvements project in line with the initial programme set out by the LEP and incorporated into the delivery contract.
A number of different providers were approached as a part of the estimating process for the scheme, with only one provider presented a priced schedule.
Herefordshire Council says that, ‘Had the Council decided to appoint an external consultant to design the works and prepare tender documentation then there is no guarantee that the scheme would have attracted any further interest from the supply chain, whilst the risk of non-delivery before March 23 was high.’
‘If the scheme could not be delivered then LEP funding could not be expended, this would result in default in terms of the re-negotiated contract and would leave the Council in a position where it would be expected to re-pay the LEP funding that had already been defrayed.
‘It should also be noted that the Council has had to redesign the scheme so that it is fully LTN1/20 compliant. Whilst not a requirement of the LEP to design and build a scheme in this way, should the Council be seen by the Department for Transport to be installing non-compliant cycle infrastructure then future Active Travel Fund allocations may be adversely affected with the Council and its residents losing out in the longer term.
‘The Project Team and Senior Responsible Officer for the HCCI project are satisfied that BBLP made all attempts to attract alternative tenders for the scheme and that, when viewed in the round of potential payback of existing grant and a likely reduction in future DfT grant that the scheme offers value for money in this instance.’
Proposals were developed by Balfour Beatty Living Places to complete the scheme design, prepare construction information, prepare the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) and undertake statutory consultation, undertake procurement of a contractor and provide construction works.
The total scheme cost (combining design, TRO consultation, procurement and construction) is greater than the initial £700k allocated within the original decision.
An increase in costs has been as a result of recently introduced Government LTN1/20 guidance. The scheme is designed to be compliant and necessitated additional safety measures and the installation of new traffic lights.
The road surface of St Owen St has deteriorated to an extent that it would be necessary to resurface in the coming years.
A decision was taken to accelerate the resurfacing of St Owen Street preventing future disruption to business. This is not part of the cycle contraflow scheme and is being funded separately through Local Transport Plan funding but is being delivered concurrently to ensure economy and efficiency.
The Hereford City Centre Improvements decision of 07 October 2021 identified that the elements should be delivered within the overall programme budget.
On 6 October 2022 a decision was taken to re-profile the HCCI budget to account for increases within some elements and underspend in others as schemes had progressed.
The Marches LEP have formally approved that budget re-profile and therefore the budget for St Owen St has been increased to encompass the spend outlined above.
Table indicating budget for St Owen Street budget allocation:
Original budget £700,000.00
Additional match £37,536.10
Additional grant £186,398.63
Additional LTP contribution £250,000.00
Total NEW budget £1,173,934.73
Table indicating total spend on scheme:
Design, TRO (including consultation etc) and Procurement £96,276.81
Construction £1,002,369.47
Contingency £75,288.45
TOTAL £1,173,934.73
More Details – https://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=9168
