Purpose

The A15 Folkingham resurfacing scheme forms part of the
Strategic Route Surfacing Programme for 2026/27, which was
approved through the Key Decision report in December 2025. As
part of that decision, authority was delegated to the Executive
Director for Place, in consultation with the Executive Councillor
for Highways and Transport, to take the necessary decisions to
procure and award contracts for the individual schemes within
the approved programme.
This section of the network has been under development for
resurfacing for approximately two years and has been identified
through the Council’s Highways Infrastructure Asset
Management Plan (HIAMP) as requiring intervention. Condition
data shows that the carriageway has deteriorated beyond the
point where preventative maintenance treatments would be
effective. The surface condition index is consistently high along
the length of the site, indicating widespread structural
deterioration and the increasing likelihood of defects such as
potholes and surface failures.
Progressing the scheme will enable the carriageway to be
reconstructed to modern standards capable of sustaining current
traffic loading on this strategically important route. The works
will provide a new carriageway structure with an anticipated
design life of approximately twenty years, improving ride quality
for road users while significantly reducing the need for reactive
maintenance and associated enquiries or third-party claims. This
approach is consistent with the Council’s asset management
strategy, which prioritises timely structural intervention to
maximise whole life value and maintain a safe and serviceable
highway network.
The decision to award the contract and progress the works is
therefore being taken under the delegated authority previously
approved as part of the Strategic Route Surfacing Programme,
enabling the Council to deliver the programme efficiently while
maintaining alignment with the approved budget and asset
management principles.

Decision

That the contract be awarded to Heidelberg for the A15
Folkingham works

Alternative options considered

A number of alternative approaches were considered as part of
the development of the Strategic Route Surfacing Programme
and the individual scheme design.
One option would be to continue with reactive maintenance,
such as patching and localised repairs, to extend the serviceable
life of the carriageway. However, the condition of this section of
the network have deteriorated beyond the point where such
interventions would provide a durable solution. Reactive repairs
would only provide short term improvements and would require
repeated traffic management and further maintenance
interventions, resulting in greater disruption to road users and
higher whole life costs.
Alternative surfacing materials were also considered. While
some materials may offer a lower initial construction cost, they
generally provide a shorter service life on heavily trafficked
strategic routes such as these. Adopting such materials would
therefore reduce the longevity of the scheme and lead to earlier
future interventions, making them less effective from a whole life
asset management perspective.
The option of deferring the scheme or removing it from the
programme was also considered. However, the scheme was
identified through the Council’s data led asset management
approach as being one of the higher priority sites on the strategic
network. Delaying intervention would likely lead to further
deterioration of the carriageway structure, increased safety risks,
and higher future repair costs.
For these reasons, progressing the resurfacing works as part of
the approved Strategic Route Surfacing Programme was
considered to be the most appropriate and cost effective option.