The Highways Cabinet Panel were scheduled to meet on 11 July 2025 to discuss operational changes to the winter service, and a trial of a new approach to fixing potholes. The meeting was also scheduled to cover the panel's membership and remit, the minutes from the previous meeting, and any public petitions.

Winter Service Operational Changes

The panel was scheduled to discuss operational changes to the Winter Service for the 2025/26 winter season. Hertfordshire Council has a statutory duty under Section 41(1A) of the Highways Act 1980 to ensure that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice. The council's Winter Service Operational Plan (WSOP) sets out the operational approach to fulfilling this duty, including route prioritisation, intervention levels, and community support.

The proposed changes aim to balance financial pressures and environmental goals while maintaining statutory service levels. According to the report pack, delivering an effective Winter Service places significant financial and environmental pressures on the authority, and rising costs combined with inflationary pressures mean that the authority must continue to evolve the delivery of the service.

The Executive Member for Highways, Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst OBE, has approved the following changes to be implemented for the 2025/26 Winter Service:

• A route optimisation project to potentially reduce the number of gritting routes from 63 to 58, while maintaining the same percentage of network coverage.
• A trial of domain-based forecasting to assess the effectiveness and costs of changing from the current 'one out, all out' approach to gritting in future seasons.
• A reduction of the Winter Self Help Scheme provision by up to 50%, allowing applicants to request up to 500kg of 'free salt' instead of up to the current 1000kg (1 tonne).
• A withdrawal of the provision of 'free hand spreaders' from the Winter Self Help Scheme.
• A reduction of the allocation of new salt bins to one per county councillor per year, down from the current allowance of two.

The operational changes are expected to reduce the overall cost of delivering the Winter Service, contributing to the Highways Integrated Plan savings target of £300,000 for 2025/26. The Winter Budget for 2024/25 was £5,080,446, while the Winter Budget for 2025/26 is £4,715,106.

The report pack included an Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA) which stated that the Winter Service Operational Plan (WSOP) should have an overall positive impact on the relevant protected characteristics¹.

A Sustainable Hertfordshire Impact Assessment (SHIA) was also included, which identified potential negative sustainability impacts related to biodiversity, energy, pollution, products materials and contracts, and transport. Actions to mitigate these potential impacts include reducing the number of outings, the spread rate of salt, and the use of more environmentally friendly fuel sources and vehicles when the new highways contracts are procured in 2024.

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

The panel was also scheduled to discuss a trial of an alternative approach to fixing potholes. The report pack noted that potholes and other defects on roads continue to cause concern for residents and road users, who often find it frustrating when the council fixes a hazardous pothole but seemingly ignores adjacent defects that do not meet the intervention criteria.

The council was undertaking a two-week trial of an alternative approach that would see adjacent, non-urgent potholes fixed in the same visit as urgent repairs. The trial was taking place from 23 June to 4 July 2025 in selected residential areas in the southwest of the county, including Abbotts Langley, Leavesden & Garston (Stanborough Woodside) and part of North Watford (Meriden Tudor).

Highways engineers pre-surveyed roads to identify:

• Category 1 (urgent) potholes,
• Cracked or deteriorating areas likely to become Cat. 1 potholes within 12 months,
• Minor adjacent defects that can be efficiently included.

The trial aimed to deliver a more seamless repair process and avoid busy roads to minimise traffic management complexity. The Roadmender process, which uses a heated mastic asphalt material, was being used to repair both urgent and adjacent non-urgent defects in a single operation.

According to the report pack, the Roadmender process is not suitable for every road defect but can fill most potholes, bind together an old, cracked surface and fill smaller dips and depressions to leave a sound, even surface.

Post-trial evaluations will assess repair quality, cost-effectiveness, and potential for broader implementation. The council will evaluate the amount spent during the trial on fixing Cat 1 defects and fixing other defects, and will map the trial on GIS² so that it will be easy to see what has been done.

Other Business

The panel was also scheduled to note the minutes of the meeting of the Highways & Transport Cabinet Panel held on 12 March 2025.

The minutes of the 12 March 2025 meeting include a discussion of a motion on highways enforcement proposed by Councillor S K Jarvis and seconded by Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst OBE. The motion requested a report on the policies used to determine when action is taken in response to highway obstructions, including by hedges and trees, the use of unauthorised footway crossings and unpermitted work by utilities, and how these have changed over the last five years.