Firms sought for £210 million Shropshire roads contract

Shropshire Council is looking for a company to replace current highways contractor Ringway, at the conclusion of its contract in March 2018.

Cabinet member for highways and transport, Councillor Simon Jones, has said that the new contract will mean a reduction in the amount of roadworks carried out in future, as a result of a cut in government funding.

The contract, which will initially last for seven years, can be extended by up to three years, one at a time.

It covers the maintenance, repair, renewal, construction and cleaning of Shropshire's roads and the maintenance of the council's vehicles.

Councillor Jones, said it will take nine months to finish the tendering process.

He said: "Shropshire Council has begun a procurement process for a contract that is potentially worth £200 million over the contracted term, plus extensions. Due to the value of the contract European Union procurement rules apply, and the process will take over nine months to conclude. The contract encompasses highways and environment services, such as highways maintenance, drainage, bridges and structures, street lighting, street scene, winter maintenance, emergency responses, workshops and vehicle maintenance, and road safety."

Councillor Jones has admitted that pressures on council funding will lead to less work being carried out.

He said: "The procurement process will scrutinise quality statements, value for money, financial standing, background, track record, experience, in order to recommend to the council's cabinet a preferred partner, crucially due to the reductions from central government funding for the council's highways grant, then this will have to be reflected in the volumes of works delivered in the future."

However, Councillor Jones said they would continue to look for other avenues to secure money for the county.

He said: "Shropshire Council will continue to explore for alternative sources of funding for Highways, such as the £1,335,000 that was provided by Central Government last week to improve pot holes form April 2017 onwards."

In a report earlier this year it was outlined that a reduction in the amount of work carried out will be "inevitable."

Steve Brown, the council's highways, transport and environment commissioning manager, lifted the lid on the situation facing the authority in a report to the council's cabinet in October.

He said: "The effect on annual term maintenance contract expenditure is a forecast combined capital and revenue reduction in expenditure from £20.2 million to £17.9 million.

"Therefore, while the council will continue to meet its statutory requirements, reductions in volumes, standards, specifications, frequency of works and service requests are inevitable, and will need to be achieved to meet the financial pressures."

Shropshire's current roads contractor Ringway has endured a rocky relationship with the authority with Councillor Jones previously revealing that "high level meetings" had taken place over a number of operational issues.

A report submitted to council last year stated "there have been a number of operational issues to resolve."

It cited several examples, describing line painting, street lighting, and bridge works as "problematic". The report also concluded that "the recent decline in street scene performance has now recovered, however, local amenity grass cutting needs improvement."

The company was praised over its winter maintenance and emergency response works, which were said to be of a high standard, while large scale schemes were said to have been "delivered well".