Council drive for value for money roadworks
As the County Council’scurrent £25 millioninvestment programme toimprove roads begins,the focus is firmly on taking steps to achieve the best possible value for money for over 200 separateschemes planned for the coming year.
Working throughits provider, Transport for Buckinghamshire, the Councilalready has strict controls in place to make sure all roadworks carried outdeliver value for money andcompare favourably with levels and standards being achieved nationally by other councils.
However,this year the Council is going a step furtherand subjecting £10 million of the programmeto even more stringentmarket testing so that thebest prices and standards can be achieved forlocal council taxpayers.
The County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transportation, Ruth Vigor-Hedderlysaid it was an important part of her role tomake sure proper value for money was being delivered.
She said, “We must remember this is public money and we have a duty to make sure we spent it as wisely as possible. This year we will be offering £10 million of workto a wider potential market. This means we cangain even more knowledge about the current marketplace and what options we might use for future roadworks. We are also arranging additional monitoring of roadworks to make sure work is delivered on time and to the quality standards we set.
“This year,we will be delivering the largest road surfacing programme since2009 as we continue the task of getting our roads back in shape. The more we can stretch every penny of our resources, the more we can do on the ground.
Full details of the countywide programme areavailable at buckscc.gov.uk/transportor follow TfB onTwitter @TfBalerts.