Councils ask for clean contractors

Contractors may soon have to join the Considerate Constructors Scheme if they want to win local authority construction work.

The Local Government Association is writing to 2000 council chief executives and department heads urging them to include a clause requiring membership of the scheme in tender documents.

The scheme, which aims to improve the appearance of construction sites and minimise their impact on the environment and local public, has already been adopted on 500 private and public sector sites since its launch last July. The LGA's move is part of a drive to expand this to the other 16,000 sites estimated to be in action across the country.

The LGA's letter says: "the Considerate Constructors Scheme could be supported by local authorities in three principle ways: specifying the Scheme when seeking tenders; encouraging their DLOs to participate and encouraging other individuals or organisations to implement it through planning offices."

An advice note sent out with the letter includes a draft contract clause requiring "best endeavours to comply with the Scheme's Code of Considerate Practice." If contractors fail to meet the standards, they can be reported to the national co-ordinators who will take up the matter with the contractor's head office. If the company repeatedly fails to put its house in order, it could become ineligible for future council work.

It is envisaged that sites will be monitored by building control, environmental health and highways officers. This will reduce administration costs and give local authority officials greater influence over site practice. "Whilst building control officers will visit [sites...] they [currently] have no authority for enforcing site management," notes the guidance document.

It concludes: "Current local authority practice is likely to be a mixture of informal site-based advice, limited written guidance, unco-ordinated responses to specific public complaints."

St Helens local authority in Merseyside is already putting the scheme in its tenders.

CJ understands that all council contracts will in future carry a clause requiring adherence to the scheme.

Other authorities, such as Newcastle, are already encouraging all planning applicants to use the scheme in the construction phase.