Better information for your journey
The National Traffic Control Centre collects real-time information on road conditions.
The Project Control Framework
On 1st April 2008 we launched the Project Control Framework. The Framework sets out how we, together with the Department for Transport, manage and deliver major improvement projects.
Free Traffic Information Seminars
Helping your business get its customers, drivers and goods where they should be, on time and stress-free.
Capability Assessment Toolkit 3
Introducing new and challenging indicators in the area of corporate social responsibility.
Efficiency Gains from Collaborative Roads Procurement
Delivering efficiency and best value is central
Regionalisation
April 2008
The 1st April 2008 saw an important step for the Highways Agency with a new Regional structure being adopted. This is one of the largest organisational changes to take place within the Highways Agency since the introduction of the Traffic Officer Service. There is a lot of hard work still required to embed the changes but the Regionalisation project has reached an important milestone. This article highlights the relevance to responders and the wider incident management community.
What is Regionalisation?
Fundamentally it is the merger of several internal Highways Agency departments / teams to bring the necessary skills together to form a Network Operations Directorate. The key to Regionalisation is to combine the functions into seven regions aligned with the Government Office boundaries (North East and Yorkshire & Humber to be treated as one region). Each region will be organised into three business areas, focusing on:
- Planning
- Delivery
- Operations
A further two central divisions support and enable the regions to deliver their objectives. Network Operations Central facilitates consistent network services and performance, whilst Traffic Technology Division provides technology solutions across all seven regions.
The below diagram shows the main areas being merged into the Network Operations Directorate:
Three Functions
The Network Operations Directorate as described above has three functions; planning, delivery and operations. The bullet points below describe the basic elements to each function.
Planning
- Short and long-term planning function regarding land use, spatial planning, sustainable development and how the network is used.
- A Regional Intelligence Unit (RIU) to gather, analyse, interpret and communicate key operational data and information to drive service and business improvement.
- As regional lead for the Highways Agency, engage with key stakeholders and road users to understand service requirements and build effective partnerships.
- Co-ordinate occupancy demands on the network more efficiently to improve journey time reliability targets.
Delivery
- Manage our Service Providers effectively to ensure the network is maintained to a high standard.
- Delivery of effective solutions to meet the broad range of targets that encompass reliability, safety and the environment.
Operations
- Deploy the Traffic Officer Service to drive improvements in congestion, incident and crisis management.
- Act as the regional focus for emergency and event planning including crisis management and severe weather plans. (Excluding technical winter service and contract management issues addressed by the Area Teams).
Finally the new Network Operations Directorate will have the following purpose:
"Through integrated customer facing teams we shall deliver the operational management and planning to support the Government’s objective for sustainable growth, and deliver a reliable and safe network with well informed travellers. It requires the right people to engage in strategic analysis and decision making that will lead to the effective delivery and operation of the Strategic Road Network."
What day to day changes might I see?
It is envisaged that the formation of the Network Operations Directorate will bring day to day improvements in the service / interface you have with the Highways Agency. The largest change you may experience is with some staff and role changes.
The most relevant change to the incident management community is the creation of a designated Emergency Planning resource for each Region. Two additional people will be based at the relevant Regional Control Centres, one being an Emergency Planner, the other a Contingency and Event Coordinator. These two people will ensure that the region is well prepared for emergency situations through working with other stakeholders. The management of the Traffic Officer Service will remain as it currently is, although there is a change of title for the Network Operations Manager to become the Regional Operations Manager.
Please follow the link to view the new structure of the Network Operations Directorate.
The roll out of the new structure is not even a month old at the point of publication, so the exact layout of your relevant local team is unlikely to be fully formed. Your local Highways Agency contact should be able to provide further information at a local level over the coming months.
What next?
Between April and October 2008 there will be an ongoing migration to the new model involving some recruitment and training. From November 2008 the changes will be reviewed to assess the benefits achieved.
Has this article been worthwhile reading? Why not take a moment to send us your comments, thoughts or questions. Please e-mail TIMbulletin@highways.gsi.gov.uk.
