Liverpool looks to AI to improve highways investment

LIVERPOOL City Council has turned to Artificial Intelligence in a bid to improve the state of the City's roads. The Council's Highways and Transportation team has set out a new evidence based approach using a mix of AI and photography to devise a multi million pound programme that will improve more than 100 roads over the next 12 months.

A report to be debated at the Council's Cabinet has outlined a ₤34.6m highways improvement programme that has identified the roads in the worst condition. The data led programme has divided the City across 3 areas:- North, Central and South, with a new priority criteria that scores a road from zero to five, with zero the best and 5 the worst. Highways schemes will be also identified in 2 categories; simple and complex.

A simple scheme will be deemed 1 that only requires a maintenance intervention and of small size. From a priority point of view, the scheme will need to be rated 4 or above, to require investment.

A complex scheme is classed as 1 that is subject to additional interventions/design considerations, such as active travel, and changes to the traffic regulation order, or with an estimated cost of ₤1m or more. The priority criteria will be set at 3 or above and if the road has 5 accidents or more in the previous 5 years.

This methodology will ensure that the Council's highways and transportation team is able to clearly demonstrate why a road has been selected for improvement which will be clearly set out in a business case for each scheme. This new approach has been developed in response to criticism from the Best Value report last year on how investment in highways had been managed.

For the 2022/23 financial year, the report sets out:-

► 39 schemes to be delivered in the north of the City - of which 1 is classed as complex.

► 33 schemes to be delivered in the central district of the City - of which 2 are classed as complex.

► 36 schemes to be delivered in the south of the City - of which 3 are classed as complex.

Funding for the programme comes from a mix of sources including both the City Region Combined Authority and the Department of Transport.

Following approval by Cabinet, the Council's Highways and Transportation Team will look to issue tenders for the schemes, many of which will involve road resurfacing works.

The year long programme will also be designed to ensure the schedule of works will minimise impact in any 1 area, avoiding clashes with longer terms schemes already in place.

Contractors will also be part of the design process and engage in initial stages of each scheme to firm up prices and provide greater assurance that schemes will meet Council needs, be high quality and delivered on time and budget.

As well as the Highways Improvement Programme, a tender will also be issued to manage the Council's Newton Road recycling facility. This new 18 month contract will be a key element of the Council's ambition to deliver its carbon net zero strategy, given the facility reuses and recycles materials coming out of the City's roads. In addition, it also provides a site to test new solutions for material development and innovation, working with the Council's supply chain and academia.

Councillor Dan Barrington, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, said:- "The Best Value report last year highlighted that investment in our roads needed to be smarter to ensure the right areas were being prioritised and that the contracts delivered the right results. A lot of work has been going on behind the scenes to radically change the approach, the methodology and use of technology to understand and explain how we invest in our highways. We've made great strides by adopting AI systems and digital photography to evidence base our new priority system and to I'd like to thank the Highways and Transportation team for embracing this new way of working. Roadworks are never welcome as by their very nature they bring disruption but we now have a fully assessed works programme that sets out clearly why we are focusing on that road, which Councillors and the public can examine and understand. Having a data led, geo based approach will also ensure we can map out the schedule of works and programme them to avoid any clashes on the network and prevent longer journeys and more pollution. This new process will also involve the contractor at an earlier stage to ensure we fully understand the costs involved and to test them so can ensure we deliver the best value to the tax payer. This will be our 1st year in adopting this new system so it won't be perfect, but we will gain a huge amount of new data and evidence as we go along which help us to learn and improve the programme for next year."
 

Mayor launches new Skills Action Plan to help employers fill record number of job vacancies

LIVERPOOL City Region (LCR) Mayor Steve Rotheram has launched a new Skills Action Plan to help employers meet a record increase in job vacancies since the onset of the COVID19 Pandemic. The strategy follows the unveiling of an ambitious ₤9.4m training and careers programme in December that will radically expand the Mayor's award winning Be More apprenticeship portal, help plug skills gaps and support up to 10,000 people next year. Increased demand for people to fill job roles pushed recruitment advertisements to a high of 20,000 per week in December 2021; up from a pre-Pandemic figure of 12,000, according to the annual LCR Skills Report. Although the Region's economic recovery is currently better than was forecast employers continue to face a tough time recruiting experienced staff. Culture and tourism businesses have been particularly hard hit by lockdowns while the health, care, digital and logistics sectors are experiencing fierce competition for staff and rising salary demands. The action plan for 2022/23 aims to reskill the City Region workforce; young people in particular, and to help employers adapt to new post-COVID ways of working and find the qualified and experienced staff they need.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:- "Our Region's people will always be its most precious resource and I want to do everything possible to put them in a position to succeed. Having started my career as an apprentice, I know the life-changing impact that decent training opportunities and good careers advice can have; I want everyone to have the same chances to succeed. For far too long, people in our Region have been held back not by a lack of talent, but a lack of opportunity. A lack of joined up thinking has too often stifled us. Through the Combined Authority we're putting that right with unified skills plans like this. We know that the journey to economic recovery can't and won't be made overnight. But we're taking significant steps now to invest in our Region's future by identifying the skills we need for the jobs in years to come. By doing that hard work now, we'll be able to connect a highly skilled pool of local workers with well paid, secure jobs."

The Pandemic has created a number of trends in employment which are expected to continue, including an increase in office/home based working, the Skills Report said:- "Employers are increasingly required to play an expanded role, with a change in focus from efficiency to resilience. Businesses will need to adapt to new trends and the training support they require will also need to change. The City Region is narrowing gaps to national levels in employment, unemployment and economic activity. But the economic crisis threatens to worsen a longstanding issue with low qualification rates, in which the City Region lags behind nationally. In particular, women, people from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds and those with a disability will require additional focus and support. However, it is anticipated that job opportunities will be available in the Liverpool City Region's priority areas and projects; such as retrofitting homes, the move towards the use of hydrogen as a fuel source and the pioneering Glass Futures project in St Helens, which is aimed at the decarbonisation of energy-intense industries."

Joanne Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool and Combined Authority Portfolio Holder for Education, Skills, Equality and Diversity, said:- "The economic crisis caused by the Pandemic has been incredibly challenging for people and businesses in the City Region. This has exacerbated a number of the longstanding issues we face, with women, people from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds and those with a disability in particular requiring additional focus and support. Getting a job, training or apprenticeship is absolutely life changing but too often we hear of people who find it hard to access opportunities. We are determined to support businesses and people so that both can thrive."

Asif Hamid, Chief Executive of The Contact Company and chair of the Liverpool City Region Skills Board, said:- "It is vital that we tackle the skills gap as having an experienced and qualified workforce will be key to us making devolution a long-term success and growing our economy. Prior to this Covid19 economic crisis, the City Region was performing well, and seeing increases in employment and decreases in unemployment and economic inactivity. We have made progress in supporting more people into work, improving the qualifications and skills of our residents, and broadened our work with employers to identify, communicate and respond to skills needs. We need to ensure that this momentum is sustained, to improve the productivity of businesses and prosperity of residents."

The Skills Action plan was approved by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority at a meeting on 4 March 2022.