Environment committee looks at new highways contract

Following the termination of the disastrous Balfour Beatty Living Places contract a new contract for street and highways work is to be awarded. The committee meeting (Tuesday Jan 12th) looked at the process of appointing the new contractor. As the formal announcement of who this is has yet to be made, part of the meeting was held in private.

The Procurement of the new contract has followed a complex process. Following the publishing of the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) notice: -

54 firms expressed an interest ...

47 of them decided to take that no further, then there were 7 ...

One was eliminated due to non-compliance, then there were 6 ...

One was identified as dodgy by the finance team, then there were 5 ...

One got scared of the workload and pulled out, then there were 4 ...

Those were assessed and one was offered the job ...

And that one is ...

A WC secret.

The formal announcement will be made on January 19th.

The contractors will start work on April 1st. Swindon have also got involved and will be using the same company under a joint contract. The value of the 5-year contract is £15million per year. This does not include grass-cutting on public areas, which was one of the more visible signs of incompetence in the previous BBLP contract.

Here's what it will include:

Highways - Parish Stewards, Pothole and carriageway defect repairs, masonry gangs, footway, kerb and ironwork maintenance, weed spraying, drainage cleansing and gully emptying, reactive grass cutting, road marking and sign maintenance, mechanical sweeping.

Street Lighting - lighting and illuminated sign maintenance and renewal work, column replacement, damage repairs and renewals, energy saving and lighting improvement schemes.

Drainage surveys and investigations - CCTV surveys, recording, cleansing, repairs and renewal.

Weather and Emergencies - Winter gritting, grit bins, weather emergency, flooding response, wind damage, out of hours service, emergency response service attending and responding to incidents on the highway, escalating the response, and increasing and deploying resources as required. The Council is the Lead Local Flood Authority for Wiltshire and the selected Contractor will operate the Council's response service to flooding incidents.

Traffic Management - Temporary traffic signals, stop-go control, diversion routes for works in connection with the contract, and work by other contractors, organisations and events.

Integrated Transport Schemes - Local safety, pedestrian, cycle and public transport infrastructure schemes, traffic calming, signing and road marking improvements, residents parking, Community Area Transport Group (CATG) schemes.

Bridge Repairs and maintenance - Routine bridge maintenance and repairs, minor bridge schemes.

Highway Maintenance - Pothole repairs, machine lining and cats' eyes, safety fencing, velocity patcher, footway repairs and renewal, carriageway resurfacing and in-situ recycling.

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The Environment committee had no option but to approve the process and the award of contract, despite not knowing who the winning contractor was.