West Sussex: 9,100 Potholes Among Road Defects Fixed

Monday, 27 July 2020 15:12

By John Warburton @Warblefly

West Sussex County Council members with company representatives (Photo: WSCC)

West Sussex's local authority has been reporting good progress from work carried out under new, multi-million-pound highway maintenance contracts.

The local authority said the five-year agreements began nine days into the lockdown period: on April 1.

Officials reported that, despite the extra challenges COVID-19 presents, Balfour Beatty Living Places had worked on core maintenance services, such as carriageway repairs and emergency works, with Drainline Southern providing drainage cleansing and Grasstex grass cutting and hedge maintenance.

County Hall listed what it said were among the achievements of the new contracts' first three months:

Balfour Beatty Living Places has carried out more than 9,100 pothole/defect repairs and emergency jobs on the highway;
Drainline Southern is in the process of emptying thousands of gullies and soakaways across the county as part of the first-year programme of works. It is also working closely with officers to react to drainage issues that may arise;
Grasstex has completed three urban grass cutting rounds, plus the first rural grass cut and first twitten cut across the county. It is also supporting with Covid-related works to ensure the public can socially distance when using footways and cyclepaths.

The five-year contracts have options to extend to a maximum of 10 years.

If they are all extended to the maximum, the county council said they could be worth in excess of £200million, dependent upon funding from central Government over that time.

Roger Elkins, Cabinet Member for Highways and Infrastructure, said:

"We know how important the highway network is to both West Sussex residents and visitors to the county.

"We're looking forward to developing our partnerships to deliver the best-possible highway maintenance service."

Balfour Beatty Living Places Contract Manager Lloyd Allen commented:

"Our delivery of more than 9,100 pothole/defect repairs and emergency jobs during lockdown, whilst strictly adhering to our COVID-19 Site Operating Procedures, is testament to the team's efficiency and expertise in maintaining highways across West Sussex."

Tristan Miles, managing director of Drainline Southern, added:

"It is very encouraging to see Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, such as ours, being engaged directly.

"We are looking forward to bringing some new, innovative and cost-saving ideas to the council for many years to come and working collaboratively with the local authorities and residents."