Cabinet is due to consider a new highway services contract which, if approved, would give the council greater oversight of highways work undertaken by contractors in the borough.
Highway inspections, work programme management and monitoring the quality of works undertaken by contractors would all be directly delivered by council officers, which has the potential to improve the standard of works in the borough.
The new highways services contract covers the following four areas - highway maintenance and capital works, street cleansing, highway transport and bridge professional services, traffic signal and integrated traffic system maintenance – and the council will work in partnership with the successful contractors to improve services.
Councillor Geoff Hill, Cabinet Member for highways and transport, said: “The council’s current contract for highway maintenance and management comes to an end in March. Cabinet will consider a new contract, which would start on 1 April next year, at our meeting next week which, if approved, would help to improve highways services.
“The recommendations in the report propose bringing back in-house certain functions, including highway inspections. This will help deliver cost efficiencies, provide flexibility to prioritise and develop future service improvements and help improve standards of maintenance, value for money and provide greater scrutiny and oversight by giving the council greater ability to check the quality of work.
“This is a really important contract. There are around 400 miles of roads in the borough which we maintain, and this is crucial infrastructure for our residents and visitors to get around.”
The recommendation to Cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday 29 November is to delegate authority to approve the appointment of the identified preferred bidders following a tender process undertaken by the council for the four contract areas listed above.
If approved, the decision is subject to the usual call-in period. The full report can be found here https://rbwm.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s48601/Highways%20Report%20Appendix%20A.pdf