Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Planning, Transportation & Environment (PTE/16/43) on the revised transport capital programme for 2016/17, excluding maintenance, attached.

Members are asked to note the report in light of the Cabinets request that Report PTE/16/43 be circulated, for information, to Highways & Traffic Orders Committees.

(Councillor Hodgson, with the consent of the Committee, spoke on this issue).

The Committee received the Report of the Head of Planning, Transportation & Environment (PTE/16/43) on the revised transport capital programme for 2016/17, excluding maintenance, in light of the Cabinets request, at its meeting on 14 September 2016 (minute *70) that Report PTE/16/43 be circulated, for information, to all Highways & Traffic Orders Committees.

The revised Capital Programme for 2016/17 reflected changes in scheme costs, funding sources and timing.

Members asked questions in relation to the ‘Totnes on the Move’ project and why many of the proposals had not been taken forward, how Parishes find out how much money was being spent in their area and how schemes were prioritised, the importance of the Littlehempston cycleway and that, as a scheme, should be progressed, the new development in Dartington and the issues being experienced such as parking on the main road and the current roundabout layout, the proposed relocation of Shinners Bridge bus stop and when this might happen and the allocation and use of S106 monies and how this information might be more accessible to Members and Parish / Town Councils.

It was MOVED by Councillor Vint, SECONDED by Councillor Gilbert, and

RESOLVED

(a) that Councillors Vint, Rowe and Pennington work with relevant officers on the Littlehempston cyclepath proposals, to identify a way forward for the delivery of this scheme; and

(b) that the Clerk to the Committee identify the information held on S106 agreement allocations and spend and assess how this information might be made available to Members, on a Parish basis, for further dissemination to Town / Parish Councils.

Report of the Head of Highways, Capital Development & Waste (HCW/16/67) on the procurement process for awarding a new Highways Term Maintenance Contract, for services currently provided by South West Highways,attached. 

(Councillors Brazil, Connett, Julian and Westlake attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Head of Highways, Capital Development & Waste (HCW/16/67) on the background to, process for and evaluation of tenders for procuring and/or awarding a new Highways Term Maintenance Contract. The Council’s current Highways Term Maintenance Contract was being provided by South West Highways and was due to expire in March 2017.  

The Head of Services’ Report referred to the decisions previously made relating to continued delivery of the service and outlined the procurement process leading to this stage to secure the best overall tender and his recommendation that the next Highways Term Maintenance Contract should be awarded to the successful tenderer for the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2024, with extension options to 2027.   Independent assurance had been received to confirm that the procurement process had been robust and that current procurement regulations for selecting tenderers, compiling contract documents, negotiating with tenderers and tender evaluation had been strictly adhered to, to ensure best value.

The Head of Service reported that the new contract had been designed to reflect research on industry best practice and experience and learning over recent years so as to ensure that the new contract provided both value for money and a good service to Devon’s communities and users of the local highway network.  In producing the contract documents, use had also been made of documentation from the Highways Maintenance Efficiency Programme, a Department for Transport funded and sector led transformation programme.

The Cabinet had previously decided that, to benefit from collaborative working, the Term Maintenance Contract should be jointly procured with Plymouth City Council and Somerset County Council. Whilst joint authority working had therefore been an essential part of the new contract, it had also been agreed that to enable partner authorities to work together without any loss of autonomy, procurement should be for three separate lots resulting in three separate but aligned contracts - one for each Council’s administrative area - rather than a single combined  contract.  Tenderers were therefore permitted to submit bids for one or more than one lot, resulting in one or more possible multi-lot bids. Each Council would however, ultimately, have its own specific contract. Moreover, any multi-lot bid could ultimately only be awarded if all affected Councils were to independently agree to award such a contract and, in line with the principles agreed at the outset of the process, that any such ‘multi-lot’ bid could only be accepted where it would place a Council in a better position than it could have achieved on its own.

Members were advised that the three Councils had chosen to follow the procurement procedure known as ‘Competitive Procedure with Negotiation’ which would enable individual Councils to award the contract for its area after initial tenders had been received, if each so chose.  This process had been followed as it was well suited to meeting the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80