CRITERION No.1 (Section 17 duties)
53. In applying this criterion, the Secretary of State will address the following questions.
(a)Have the authority considered what arrangements might be appropriate for—
(i)planning the action to be taken in performing the duty under section 16 of the Act; and
(ii)carrying out that action;
and where considered appropriate have they made such arrangements? (See section 17(1)).
(b)Do the arrangements include provision for the appointment of a traffic manager? (See section 17(2)).
(c)Do the arrangements include provision for establishing processes for ensuring, so far as may be reasonably practicable, that the authority—
(i)identify things which are causing road congestion on their road network, or other disruption to the movement of traffic on that network;
(ii)identify things (including future occurrences) which have the potential to cause road congestion on their road network, or other disruption to the movement of traffic on that network; and
(iii)consider any possible action that could be taken in response to, or in anticipation of, anything so identified? (See section 17(4)).
In addressing this question the Secretary of State will not expect to see provision for establishing processes for the consideration or identification of anything appearing to have only an insignificant effect (or potential effect) on the movement of traffic on the authority’s road network.
(d)Do the arrangements include provision for ensuring that the authority—
(i)determine specific policies or objectives in relation to different roads or different classes of road in their road network;
(ii)monitor the effectiveness of their organisation and decision-making processes and the implementation of their decisions; and
(iii)assess their performance in managing their road network? (See section 17(5)).
(e)Have the authority kept under review the effectiveness of these arrangements? (See section 17(6)).