Agenda item

Report of Corporate Director for Communities, Environment and Resident Services

Meagan Milic, Highways Compliance Manager, and Chris Keene, Head of Highways Services, introduced the report seeking approval for the allocation of schemes for the second phase of the Streets for People Programme comprising public highway improvements for highways, traffic management and road safety; and the call-off and award from internal and third party frameworks for the delivery of the Programme.  They highlighted the following information:

a)  The Programme is entirely grant funded, from the Local Transport Plan Area Capital annual block allocation for 2024/25 and the Local Transport Plan Integrated Block.

b)  Consideration has been given as to whether call-off from a framework is the best method for awarding contracts for this Programme, but the alternative of packaging works would be more challenging to complete within the timeframe available and lacks flexibility.  This approach was successfully used for the Streets for People 1 Programme and utilises a mixed approach of direct award, mini-competition and having a basket of goods.  It also enables the Council to change or defer schemes if necessary.  There could be scope to incorporate the Streets for People Programme, Planned Maintenance Programme and statutory highways maintenance works into one contract but because the Council only receives annual awards of funding from the Department for Transport it is unable to award multi-year contracts, which would be more attractive to suppliers.  Commissioners have confirmed that they are comfortable with the proposed approach.

c)  Procurement regulations are changing in autumn 2024, making pre-market engagement mandatory.  Future specifications will be outcomes based to allow the market to identify ways of achieving the desired outcome.

d)  In addition to officers’ technical recommendations, all councillors had the opportunity to identify roads for inclusion in the Programme.

During subsequent discussion and in response to questions from the Committee, the following points were made:

e)  Communication with residents about highways works taking place is important.  If necessary, additional bespoke communication arrangements can be put in place for specific scenarios.

f)  The aim is to work towards a Streets for People 3 Programme and part of that will involve re-engaging residents, by working with ward councillors, on highways maintenance, road safety and traffic requirements. 

Resolved to:

(1)  approve the ward allocation and schemes contained within the 2024/25 Streets for People 2 Programme, as outlined in Appendix 1 to the report, at a cost of £5.85m; and

(2)  approve the call-off and award from internal and external third-party frameworks that have been let in accordance with public procurement regulations for the delivery of the 2024/25 Streets for People 2 Programme, as outlined in Appendix 1 of the report.

Reasons for decision

g)  The Programme enables improvements to be made to the highway including to footways, roads, traffic management and road safety, prioritised on the basis of technical assessment, local knowledge and engagement with ward councillors.

h)  The benefits of operating under the framework arrangements are:

  i.  enabling the delivery of external grant funded statutory work activity in line with timescales of award;

  ii.  a value for money delivery model with no fixed financial commitments to use the framework;

  iii.  flexibility with no restriction in developing other delivery models for highways in the future;

  iv.  opportunities for local small to medium enterprise companies to deliver works through framework awards;

  v.  the potential for a local workforce through utilising regional small to medium enterprise contractors;

  vi.  ensuring the Council complies with its duty of best value by going through compliant frameworks and mini competition when stipulated by the framework terms;

  vii.  demonstrating the Council’s commitment to all stakeholders in the East Midlands Devolution Plan that it is invested in low carbon economic growth; and

  viii.  utilising framework partners that support the Council’s Carbon Neutral Charter and initiate carbon management through their entire supply chain.

Other options considered

i)  Not approving the spend would have meant that no schemes could be delivered and would have adversely impacted upon overall delivery of the Local Transport Plan Capital Programme.  Therefore this option was rejected.

j)  Not calling-off from frameworks and having compliant procurement measures in place would have adversely affected the Council’s ability to engage with suppliers and contractors to deliver essential highways works within the funding timeframe and there would be no effective means of demonstrating compliance with financial and procurement regulations.  Therefore this option was rejected.

k)  Alternative procurement options, including Term Service Contracts and Multi-Agency Frameworks, would require more stability in the funding regime.  The Council currently receives annual awards for highways maintenance and further grant awards for transport schemes but there is no medium term funding strategy that would assist consideration of a medium-term delivery solution with a third party.  As engagement continues under the East Midlands Combined County Authority agenda and the merging of Department for Transport funding streams may provide opportunity for this option to be considered in the future but it was rejected currently.