What’s this all about?
With 458 miles of pavements and 259 miles of roads to look after, we have a duty to maintain our streets in a safe condition. However, major investment is needed in order to meet this requirement.
In November 2009, we secured a government grant of £267m in PFI Credits to invest in the much-needed work and on-going maintenance to the roads and pavements. This includes upgrading or improving roads, pavements, street lights, street cleansing, signs, street furniture, trees, structures and drains.
The procurement process is now underway and the PFI team is currently in dialogue with bidders.
Why are we doing this?
The borough’s roads, pavements and street assets need improving. In some areas there has been limited maintenance, meaning that there is backlog of repairs, and we accept that this can make our streets look tired.
Our annual planned maintenance programme is under way, with repairs to lengths or large sections of roads and footways to prevent further deterioration. However, major investment is needed in order to upgrade or improve the street scene, and the PFI will allow us to do this.
What is the PFI?
PFI stands for Private Finance Initiative. This is a financial arrangement that provides ‘up front’ money for improvements needed now, where the payments can be spread over a longer time. In November 2009, we successfully secured a government grant of £267m to invest in the much needed work and on-going maintenance to the roads and pavements. We provide some of the funding and the Department for Transport provides a grant known as ‘PFI credits’ subject to various conditions.The main condition is that the council must enter into a long-term arrangement with a private sector provider which will carry out the required improvements and maintain them over the term of the contract (25 years in this case).
The private sector provider will finance the ‘up front’ investment required to tackle the backlog of repairs and improvement works.As the customer it gives us greater bargaining power whilst continuing to keep ownership. Paying the money back in instalments means payments will depend on the work being carried out to our satisfaction.
Will streets in the borough look different?
Yes roads, pavements and street scene features will either be improved or replaced during the first five years of the contract, therefore many areas will noticeably start looking more appealing and safer.
A key and ground-breaking feature of the project is the approach of Whole Street Environment Schemes (WSE). This means that rather than just repairing roads and pavements, all related services such as street lighting, drains, signs, trees and grass verges will be repaired or updated at the same time in the same area. We have already completed 19 of these schemes and about 100 more across the borough will be completed during the first five years of the PFI contract.
What are the benefits?
The PFI will give us the opportunity to revitalise our roads, pavements and street furniture which will result in:
Comfortable, smoother journeys
Increased accessibility for pedestrians
Smarter, cleaner, safer streets
Environmental enhancements, such as, more trees
All these improvements will not only benefit residents but also local businesses and visitors to the borough.
What are the next stages?
We are currently in the procurement phase. This involves a bidding process which is being undertaken with some large, established engineering contract firms. This process requires a lot of consideration and detail; therefore the announcement of the final contractor will not be made until the summer of 2012, with work beginning in 2013.