Cheshire East Council has unveiled its new approach to servicing the area's highways which includes an improved fleet of gritting vehicles, roadwork updates via Twitter and savings of more than £1 million a year.
Ringway Jacobs will take over the running of the highways service on Thursday, October 6th, which will see Cheshire East staff integrated with staff from the former provider BAM Nuttall Ltd.
Cheshire East Council will oversee the running of the service which is expected to fulfil a number of priorities including pothole repairs, highways management, gritting, street lights and general highway maintenance.
In acquiring the contract, Ringway Jacobs had to demonstrate how they could provide an efficient, improved service at a local level, whilst making financial savings. As part of the new way of working, a greater proportion of the highways service budget will be concentrated on repairing roads.
In addition to this, the public will soon be able to access a new 'Service Information Centre' on the Cheshire East Council website where you will be able to access a range of services, including tracking gritting vehicles and the social-networking site, Twitter, will also be used to update drivers on disruption to routes because of weather, roadworks and general highways information.
Cheshire East Councillor Rod Menlove, Cabinet member with responsibility for environmental services, said: "This is an exciting time for Cheshire East Council's highways service. We have a brand new partnership with a forward-thinking provider who is going to improve the service and make much-needed savings.
"The new partnership was brought about via an extensive procurement period, undertaken openly and swiftly. Our focus is on providing an efficient service which meets the demands of our residents – I am pleased to say Ringway Jacobs shares this vision."
Bill Taylor, Managing Director for Ringway Jacobs, said: "We have spent four months preparing to hit the ground running on day one, including building a new modern depot and offices in Congleton.
"It is our intention to work openly in partnership with the council to deliver quality services to residents and deliver value for money to the council."
Cheshire East's partnership with Ringway Jacobs is for five years, with the option of extending this to seven, should the council decide to do so.
Photo: (L-R) Councillor Rod Menlove, Cabinet member with responsibility for environmental services; John Nicholson, Cheshire East Council's strategic director for places and organisation capacity; David Lee, Chairman of Ringway Jacobs; Erika Wenzel, Chief Executive of Cheshire East Council; Councillor Wesley Fitzgerald, Cheshire East Council Leader; and Kevin Melling, Cheshire East Council's highways manager.
