Cambridgeshire council asked about pothole contract transparency

A council that has introduced fines to its contract with a major highways firm whose pothole repair work was described as "ridiculous" and "unbelievable" says it will ensure taxpayers "do not fund any poor performance".

Cambridgeshire County Council's contract with M Group - which the council admitted had not delivered the "service levels expected or required" - was due to end next year.

It was extended until 2030, with caveats like fines for poor repairs, an out-of-hours service and taking photos of each repair.

But under questioning about how the fines would work, David Allatt, infrastructure director at the council, said some of the contract was "commercially sensitive".

M Group has said it would "continue to drive innovation and best practice".

In March last year, papers from the council's Highways and Transport Committee stated "response times and quality of work is a continued concern" when referring to its M Group contract, which is for a range of services including pothole repairs.

With the contract due to expire in 2027, the Liberal Democrat chair of the highways committee, Alex Beckett, said his preference would have been to go out and procure a new contract.

However, with local government reorganisation on the horizon, the council chose to extend to 2030.

Tuesday's highways meeting heard a petition and question from Tim Andrews, a former Labour council candidate, who said he learned of the extension "to my considerable surprise, indeed horror".

He asked "how the penalty and any reward clauses will work, including what transparency council taxpayers will have about the performance of the contract so that council taxpayers can see for themselves that they are receiving value for money".

Allatt said the council had "strengthened performance management to ensure that the contractor is held to clear and measurable standards".

"Financial penalties have been introduced to incentivise the contractor to deliver works right first time... which will reduce the amount the council pays ensuring that taxpayers do not fund any poor performance.

"It is the case that some of the detailed contract provisions are commercially sensitive, however we will be monitoring performance on an ongoing basis."

After Conservative councillor Ian Gardener asked if the council had the correct number of officers to make sure repair work was up to scratch, Allatt said they "physically audit a minimum of 5% of defects".

"But also as part of the contract extension we've introduced a photograph requirement which can allow, if we become aware of an issue, we can very rapidly do essentially a desktop review of defects to check their quality.

"So I'm confident we have the resource that we need to do to stay on top of quality."

Reform councillor Ricky Ioannides said some of the contract changes were "definitely moving us in the right direction".

"But I think residents won't judge on the wording of a deed variation. They're going to judge on whether their roads are worthy against the tax they are paying."

He said he wanted to see a "public dashboard" that show things such as repair dates and independent inspections.

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