At last week’s Corporate Scrutiny Committee (catch up here) it was said that 30 per cent of roads that were due to be upgraded, resurfaced and rebuilt by the end of the core investment period (CIP) in April 2020 have not been.
Several councillors raised the issue at the meeting, which was attended by Director of Neighbourhoods, Colin Rowland.
Four year extension by why no penalties?
Cllr Lilley told the meeting that “there haven’t been the level penalties that are in the contract for not delivering.”
He added that members had received a “reassurance that an extension of four years” which will mean those roads that have not been brought up to standard, would.
However, he said that penalties against Island Roads, for not meeting the contract requirements, had not been enforced.
Rowland: “Satisfactory progress is being made”
Mr Rowland did not deny that 30 per cent of roads had not been brought up to standard, but said the contract is measured by district and standards in those districts. He said the Island Roads contract currently exceeds the standards that have been set for each road in the way the contract is measured.
He said satisfactory progress is being made by Island Roads, “by looking at milestones they are achieving what they need to achieve in the contract for milestone 14” (the CIP). He said there are certain roads that need more improvements and certain roads that haven’t been resurfaced and went on to highlight more investment being made after the CIP.
Andre: Milestones not met – penalties should’ve been employed
Cllr Andre questioned that with only six weeks until the CIP and 30 per cent of roads still not brought up to standard, “then surely the milestones have not been met and penalties should have been employed”.
She asked whether the contract had been extended and suggested they are looking at a CIP of 11 years (not seven).
Rowland: In the dark about what was promised
Mr Rowland started his response by stating that he’d only joined the council last year and wasn’t around the beginning of the contract so didn’t know the “detail of what was promised, or put out to the press, or what information was passed around”.
Cllr Andre reminded him that the information was in the Method Statement – something councillors seemed to have expected him to read.
Rowland: “Second best roads in the country”
Mr Rowland went on to explain that his understanding of the contract was that it was based on “standards per district”. He said the Method Statements they use demonstrated how the contractor would meet that specification.
He said the Island had gone from “League Division Four of road condition in the UK to League Division One”, adding that we have, “the second best roads in the country as a result of the investment that was made by Island Roads and the council and the Department for Transport”.
Extension a “remodelling of the overall investment”
The four additional years is a remodelling of the overall investment that Island Roads will be making over the remaining 18 years.
He said Island Roads would bring forward more funding in the next four years to cover more of the roads, he said,
“Basically some of the roads that weren’t done, not because they don’t meet the output specification – because as the independent survey found they exceed the output specification – but because they can see the benefit of going into individual areas and there are some roads that haven’t been done”.
He said that as far as the contract is concerned, they don’t need to resurface those roads.
Failing roads would be rectified
He said a number of roads have “failed and are failing” and that Island Roads have committed to over the next four years, go back and rectify some of those road conditions.
Following the publishing of this article, IWC provided the following text:
An Island Roads spokesman added: “Though at the end of the CIP, we will have raised the quality of the network to the standards required by the contract; there are 18 more years of the PFI left during which we will continue to maintain and improve all types of road across the Island.
“We continue to carry out works through the normal course of the contract, and our plan is to continue the next four years of significant road improvement work that will leave us very well placed to maintain the network to the required level for the remainder of the contract. This means keeping the average condition across the Island and Districts above the agreed standard.
“While the programme is not as intensive as during the last seven years, the public will see lots going on, but with less disruption to local road users and visitors, particularly in the periods when holiday makers are visiting our Island and making use of the improved roads and amenities.
“In short, though the period of the most intense road improvement activity is coming to an end, the quality of the road network will continue to rise in the coming years.”
Article edit
3.55pm 26th Feb 2020 – Changed some wording to add clarification. Added statement from Island Road as supplied by IWC.
