The Isle of Wight Council has slashed more than £600,000 from the Highways PFI budget with a series of service cuts — including reducing CCTV monitoring, street cleaning, grass cutting and winter maintenance.
In April, the council said it had found £11 million worth of savings over the remaining 18 years of the contract. It hopes to cut the budget by £40 million overall.
£608,000 of cuts so far
At this month’s scrutiny committee meeting, Island Roads and council officers said they had cut £608,000 so far and provided a list showing the extent of the cuts.
Despite repeated requests for savings figures in each area, and details of how the cuts will be implemented — how much money reducing the gritting routes will save, for example, or which roads will no longer be cleaned as often — the council has failed to provide any specifics.
Evans: ‘Quite a hefty target to achieve’
Dave Evans, the council’s strategic manager for highways and transport, said it was ‘quite a hefty target to achieve’ in a contract that had already been agreed.
The council hopes the measures will save a further £900,000 by April, 2020 — £450,000 by the end of the month.
The return of JJ
The initial £11 million cuts were identified by Jay Jayasundara. The former Highways PFI council officer has returned to County Hall as a consultant, to find savings in the contract he originally put together.
The council said last July he would be paid £70,000 for the work. In fact, he was paid £130,000 for eight months’ work, including £750 a month for accommodation costs, and will remain on the council payroll until April.
Cuts to CCTV control room
One of the most controversial cuts has been to the CCTV control room at Island Roads’ headquarters — every monitoring job was axed, although the council said the footage could still be accessed if it was needed.
The Highways PFI project has come under fire in recent months after the council said it was not obliged to resurface every road within the first seven years of the contract — contrary to claims made when the contract was signed.
Only 65 per cent of the 818km road network has been treated to date, before the core investment period comes to an end next year.
Where the cuts take place
Services cut to improve savings include:
- Reduced CCTV Service
- Street Cleansing and Grass Cutting
- Review of Street Furniture, Signs and Markings
- Winter Maintenance
- Events Traffic Management
- Additional Drainage Services
- Trimming and Dimming of Street Lights
- Traffic Modelling and Counting
- Rail Bridges and Structures
- District Responders Day Work
- Gritting Routes
Article edit
17.10: Headline amended from ‘refused’ to ‘failed’
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may be been made by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: Abby Savage on Unsplash under CC BY 2.0
