1 Overview
Very often in life a 'one size fits all' approach just doesn't work, and our highways are no different. To get the best deal for our county's communities, West Sussex County Council (WSCC) has come up with a new way of working.
We will still deal with:
- safety-related work (such as pothole repairs)
- essential tree maintenance
- drainage repairs and gully cleaning
- safety lines and signs
- road resurfacing, when needed
- grass cutting.
However, in some areas of work we need to reduce levels of service and help local communities influence and be part of the delivery of local priorities impacting their neighbourhoods.
2 Where communities can help
Local communities can now get more involved in influencing and being part of delivering the priorities impacting their neighbourhoods. There are three areas in which communities can become involved:
3 Community highways partnerships
Parish and town councils can undertake a variety of maintenance activities by signing a simple agreement with WSCC.
For the legal terms of this agreement, you can email us using the contact details below.
The types of activities include:
- grass cutting
- weed spraying on footpaths and kerbs
- footpath siding
- tree work, including removing epicormic growth around trees
- strimming landscaped areas
- cutting back/clearing overgrown vegetation
- maintaining roundabouts
- clearing gullies of leaves
- cleaning signs
- removing unofficial signs, verge markers and estate agent boards that pose a danger to road users
- removing graffiti
- dealing with licensing requests, such as advertising boards or busking
- inspections
- enforcement, such as issuing letters to ask for considerate parking or to cut back private vegetation, or for signs and advertising boards that don't have permission to be there.
Watch the video below to see how Henfield Parish Council are working with Highways to improve their local neighbourhood.
Please note: this video uses YouTube's automated captions, which we have edited for accuracy.
4 Community-led improvements
You can find out how to get involved in improving your local highway on:
- Apply for a community highways scheme - where you can request improvements that significantly contribute to your community
- Operation Watershed - where you can apply for funding to deliver capital projects to reduce the risk and impacts of flooding in your area.
Hear from the Fixing and Linking our Wetlands (FLOW) project and how they work with and receive support from Operation Watershed.
5 Community action
We help communities and volunteer groups to actively enhance their neighbourhood through various activities. Groups are given guidance about how to tackle low level highways issues in their area which otherwise may be low priority for WSCC. These include:
- cutting back overgrown vegetation
- trimming the edges of grass verges
- clearing weeds
- sign and bollard cleaning
- hand clearing gullies and ditches
- removing unlawful signs
- siding footpaths and cycle paths
- creating a flood action group.
Watch the video below to see how Tarring Flood Action Group have reduced their risk of flooding.
Community volunteering
If you are a willing group of community volunteers, and local projects require more support, you may be able to assist with:
- training
- risk assessments
- limited tools loan
- providing extra pairs of hands.
For volunteering opportunities see Volunteering in the countryside and environment and our Community volunteer team page.
6 Purchasing Highway services
In addition to the community led action outlined, Parish, Town and District and Borough councils can purchase additional services directly from the County Council’s highway maintenance providers.
The works can be procured directly through the contractors responsible for delivering the services across the county and are priced using the same rates applied to County Council works.
Drainage clearance
Additional gully emptying, jetting and drainage investigations can be purchased directly via our contractor Drainline.
Indicative costs for gully emptying for example, can range between £59 per gully to £16 per gully, depending on the number of gullies associated with a request.
A jetting vehicle can be provided for, in the region of, £950 per day, directed to sites as identified by the customer. A schedule of rates is available on request from the contractor and, should you wish to pursue further, please contact Drainline.
Grass cutting and vegetation clearance
Additional grass cutting and vegetation clearance can be purchased via our grass cutting contractor, Grasstex. They are also able to provide costs for other activities such as pavement siding and weed removal.
Because of the nature of the works and the need for a specific quote, a schedule of rates is not available and you should contact Grasstex directly for a quote.