Surrey saves £7.3m on road contracts

Surrey County Council has saved local taxpayers more than £830 every hour for a year by driving harder bargains on road contracts.

Harder bargaining on highways improvement and maintenance deals has seen the council save £7.3m in the first - equivalent to £833 every hour for 365 days.

Nearly £5m of those savings have been ploughed back into road resurfacing schemes.

May Gurney contributed £6m of the savings after the council signed a series of contracts with firms to give Surrey taxpayers better value for money.

Surrey’s main contractor saved £4.1m on the previous road maintenance contract covering potholes, winter work and the upkeep of bridges.

It made a further £1.9m of savings on the previous deals to clean drains and improve road surfaces.

May Gurney has also beaten demanding standards set by the council, with latest performance figures showing the firm is fixing 99% of potholes within 28 days.

It is also ensuring 98% of potholes are fixed or made safe with a temporary repair within 24 hours.

Other savings over previous contracts from deals done with the likes of Tarmac* add up to £1.3m for the year.

Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment John Furey said: “This shows our commitment to getting the best possible deal for Surrey’s taxpayers. Our aim is to provide the highest quality roads we can at the very best value for money.

“We’re working incredibly hard to improve Surrey’s roads and driving harder bargains to save £7.3m in a year bears testament to that.

"The results of our efforts can already be seen and over the coming months and years residents will continue to see big improvements in the standard of their roads.”