
Joint venture KierWSP has won a 16-month extension to its contract with Northamptonshire County Council (NCC) to supply highways services.
The contract, worth between £92 million and £120 million, is initially for a period of 16 months, with the option to extend for a further nine months.
The partnership has worked on the contract for the past 12 years and under the new agreement it will continue to provide highways network infrastructure maintenance and management services, traffic signalisation and intelligent transport services, county structures maintenance and regulatory functions across the county.
Debbie Taylor-Bond, KierWSP general manager, said: “The work we have been doing across Northamptonshire has helped us to understand and prioritise the needs of the local residents and businesses. We look forward to developing the partnership with NCC even more to deliver more efficient and effective services to customers across the region.
“We have a very interesting time ahead of us now, in so many ways, but our focus following now is to ensure Northamptonshire Highways is ready for when Northamptonshire moves to the unitary arrangement in 2021.”
Councillor Jason Smithers, county council cabinet member for environment and place, said: “We are pleased to be continuing to work with KierWSP as our transport and highways partner. Together we are committed to maintaining and improving the highways network in Northamptonshire. We know how important roads are to county residents so we will continue to push forward initiatives, such as the recent steps taken to boost pothole repairs by agreeing to purchase two new thermal road repair machines– which can each triple the repair rate of conventional methods – and a Roadmaster jet patching machine.”
Legislation to create two new unitary councils in Northamptonshire went before Parliament at the end of last year. West Northants and North Northants councils will replace the county council and seven district and borough councils by April 2021.