Tory cabinet members at Surrey County Council (SCC) have told Carillion, one of the construction companies deemed to have overcharged taxpayers more than £1m in a year through “unacceptable” workmanship, its services improving the county’s roads are no longer required.
Carillion has been responsible for the roads in east Surrey, which includes Elmbridge, for the past six years, but the council has now decided to look elsewhere once the current contract expires in 2011.
The council has also decided to cut its ties with Ringway, which has been responsible for west Surrey.
In 2006, it was revealed both Carillion and Ringway had shortchanged Surrey taxpayers £1.3m, after carrying out substandard road repairs and overcharging for fixing potholes.
In the same year, an audit report criticised Carillion’s “unacceptable standards of workmanship” in Surrey, and an investigation showed one of its road work gangs had only completed 57 minutes of labour in an eight-hour day.
Despite these revelations, last year SCC decided to extend the contract for a further three years, on the proviso Carillion met tougher targets for cost and quality.
A Carillion spokesman said: “We have worked very hard with Surrey County Council for the past six years and will continue to build on delivering best value for the Surrey residents until the end of the contract term.
“The contract was originally a five-year term with a possible year on year extension to a maximum of 10 years and we are pleased that we have secured three out of the possible five years permissible through our achievement against a range of performance criteria.”
Councillor Ian Lake, cabinet member for transport at SCC, said the council had decided to ditch Carillion now because it was “time for a fresh approach”.
He said: “Our prime focus must always be to deliver the highest standard of service, while providing maximum value for money. I am confident we are now in an excellent position to seek a better, more competitive deal that will directly benefit our residents.
“I acknowledge there have been issues with [the Carillion] contract, but we have worked in partnership with Carillion to learn the lessons and resolve issues where possible.
"Good progress has been made to improve the standard of Surrey’s highways, and I know we share a continuing commitment to build on our recent successes until the contract expires in seventeen months.”
A spokesman for SCC said in the past two years, more than 300 highway improvement schemes had been successfully completed and overall complaints had dropped by nearly 20 per cent.
The council will start looking for a new supplier for road maintenance next year.
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