Top level talks over Shropshire Council highways contract
High level meetings have taken place between Shropshire Council and its highways maintenance firm over criticisms of its work.
Simon Jones, the authority's cabinet member for highways, revealed the talks when he was addressing members of the council at its full meeting.
The firm's work had been criticised in an official report and by several councillors at the meeting.
Councillor Heather Kidd, said a road through Marton had been resurfaced four times – ultimately at the contractor's expense – because it had not been up to standard.
She said: "I am not convinced that it is good enough now. The village is heartily fed up. It had a very poor road surface before and now what they have been left with on four occasions is not what you would expect."
She added: "This is not good enough."
The Ringway contract is currently in its third year of six, with an option of another four years.
Councillor Jones told members that the company's performance had been improving and that they would no longer be using the "microasphalt" type of surfacing attempted in Marton.
He said: "Three years in and it has been like the first year of the contract.
"There have been high level meetings between the leader, the chief executive, and senior national members from Ringway. There have been improvements and we are doing everything we can, along with Mouchel (the council's highways consultants) to smooth the passage of the contract.
"Things are looking up and improving but the proof is in the pudding."
He added: "With microasphalt, it is very unlikely we will be using that system again on our roads in Shropshire.
"It has been tried in several areas in Shropshire and we are not happy with the results so it is something we will not be repeating."
Councillor Jones' annual report on highways stated: "There have been a number of operational issues to resolve."
It cited several examples, describing lining, 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".
