Kent Design - Technical Appendix - Kent County Council

1. PROCESS
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process
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1.1 TECHNICAL ASSESSMENT AND SAFETY AUDIT
1.1.1 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF PROCESS
Any works undertaken on the highway and/or which will form part of
the adopted highway network will require adoption approval from
the Kent County Council or Medway Council (the two Highway
Authorities in Kent). The individual, firm, organisation (or their
representative) who wishes physically to alter the highway is called
‘The Scheme Promoter’. To ensure an acceptable scheme is built, all
schemes must undergo a technical assessment and safety audit
process carried out either by the Highway Authority, or District
Authority (Highway Unit), acting as authorised representative,
depending on the scale of the scheme.
Although Technical Appraisal and Safety Audit procedures are dealt
with in a similar manner in the Medway Council Authority it will be
necessary to follow their latest guidelines. The following guidance is
relevant to schemes in all parts of the county but requests for
detailed advice, queries and correspondence relating to schemes in
Medway should be directed to Medway Council.
For schemes in the rest of the county the KCC Highway Authority
will conduct the technical assessment and safety audit process for
schemes that require a Section 278 agreement valued in excess of
£25000, and schemes that have county wide significance constructed
under a Section 38 agreement. The Scheme Promoter will be advised
by the County Council whether or not proposals will have county
wide significance.
Schemes constructed under Section 38 agreements that do not have
county wide significance are technically assessed and safety audited
by the District Authority Highway Unit (HU) prior to adoption by the
KCC Highway Authority. Similarly, schemes involving Section 278
agreements valued at less than £25000 are assessed and audited by
the Highway Unit.
CONCEPT AND FEASIBILITY OF SCHEME -
The scale of the proposals and the resultant effect on the public
highway will need to be discussed in collaboration with the
appropriate Highway Unit (HU) or Area Office (West, Mid or North-
East) of KCC’s Network Management Unit. Once the nature and
feasibility of the scheme is accepted by the appropriate authority,
(KCC Area Office or HU), the scheme will be formally assessed at
the three stages of the scheme’s life, the preliminary/outline design
stage, the detail design stage and the construction stage. It is
envisaged that this process will run alongside other legal, planning and
technical requirements. If a scheme is not progressed to the next
stage of its assessment within 24 months it will need to be resubmitted
at the start of the process.
Schemes which include a new structure or a modification to an
existing structure will require KCC structures technical approval (see
Section 1.1.5).
Following the broad acceptance of the concept, the Scheme
Promoter will receive written confirmation from the Area Office/HU
of this, detailing any specific requirements and agreements, together
with guidance on how to proceed. This may include
recommendations to submit a design using a design consultant on an
approved list.
GUIDANCE NOTES FOR SCHEME PROMOTERS -
Outline Design Technical Assessment and Safety Audit (Stage
1) of the overall process - Once the principle of the scheme has
Kent
Design
been agreed, then unless otherwise stated by the Area Office/HU,
the next part of the process will be to produce an acceptable outline
design and this will be subject to various technical checks and a safety
audit report. In the case of schemes requiring planning permissions
or associated with planning applications, this should be prior to or as
soon as practical after the granting of planning permission. It is
recommended that the Scheme Promoter has informal discussions
with the HU or KCC Area Office at the preliminary stages in order
to ensure that the proposals will result in the safest and most
appropriate layout for that site.
The Scheme Promoter must submit the appropriate documentation
for the outline design technical assessment and safety audit within 24
months of the principle of the scheme being accepted. The Area
Office/HU should within 6 working days of receipt, provide a contact
name and acknowledge receipt of the submission or return
unsuitable submissions. Provided an acceptable submission is
received by the Area Office/HU, then the Scheme Promoter should
receive a response and assessment from the Area Office/HU no later
than six weeks after receiving written acknowledgement of receipt of
the scheme at the Area Office/HU. Where this target cannot be met
the Scheme Promoter will be informed of the circumstances. The
Scheme Promoter will then either be given guidance as to whether
the scheme needs to be resubmitted at the outline stage, or guidance
on producing a submission for the detailed design technical
assessment and safety audit part of the procedure. This may be
subject to various conditions. Any approvals given at this stage of the
process must not be considered as approval to construct the scheme.
Detail Design Technical Assessment and Safety Audit (Stage
2) of the overall process - The Scheme Promoter will have
received guidance from the Area Office/HU on how to proceed to
the detail design technical assessment and safety audit part of the
overall scheme process. It may be possible in the case of some small
schemes to submit Stages 1 and 2 combined. Advice on this must be
sought from the relevant authority. On receipt of the detailed design
submission, the Area Office/HU should, within 6 working days
provide a contact name and acknowledge receipt of the submission,
or return unsuitable submissions. The designated contact in liaison
with the Area Office/HU will discuss and agree the time scale to
assess the scheme. Any requirements as a result of a preliminary
assessment of the detail design may be discussed. Once an
acceptable detail design has been agreed, and subject to other legal
and technical issues the Scheme Promoter will receive written
approval to start construction from the Area Office/HU (or
designated representative), which may be subject to various
conditions. Guidance regarding site supervision, inspections and an
as-built safety audit may also be provided.
As Built (Stage 3) of the overall process - Once the scheme is
substantially completed an inspection may be required as well as an
as-built safety audit. The Scheme Promoter (or designated
representative) will need to inform the Area Office/HU in writing
when the Scheme is ready to be inspected and safety audited. It
should be noted that the safety audit will normally be carried out
separately from other inspections. At this stage of the process it is
not envisaged that major changes will take place. It does provide an
opportunity to identify potential safety issues not previously detected
in the design process, for whatever reason. Liability for rectifying any
potential hazards as identified and requested by the Area Office/HU
or authorised representative is the responsibility of the Scheme
Promoter.