LIBERAL DEMOCRAT COUNCILLORS SUCCEED IN REVIEWING HIGHWAYS CONTRACT

Liberal Democrat County Councillors have gained cross-party agreement for councillors to undertake a detailed scrutiny of the Highways contract with Balfour Beatty in order to improve the dire state of our roads.

Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Kathryn Field explains:

“We all agree that our roads are a mess. Potholes, damage to vehicles and the unsafe nature of our road surfaces are the single biggest cause of complaint from our residents and we all agree we need to take whatever action we can to improve the service we are getting.

The current contract with Balfour Beatty negotiated by the Conservative administration has no break clause in it. This means that breaking or terminating the current contract before the end of the contract term will incur material costs and penalties. It would certainly be beyond any resources that we have and would simply add to the huge debt the council now carries.

I am sympathetic to a proposal to consider bringing Highway repairs back under the direct control of the County Council, but this is not financially affordable at the moment.

We believe improvements can be made – for example, in the introduction of the Roadmender Asphalt system for mending potholes – and that is why we will commission a cross-party scrutiny committee following the May elections to explore any improvements that can be made under the existing contract."

Cllr Carolyn Lambert, Liberal Democrat Councillor for Seaford South adds:

“Around £18b is needed nationally to complete the outstanding repairs and this does not take into account the need to repair the infrastructure. All local authorities need serious funding from central government to address this and we will continue to push for this.”