Council attacks Amey's Scots road maintenance

Exclusive by Glenda Thisdell



A Scottish local authority has attacked the performance of a private contractor which now maintains roads previously the responsibility of the council.

In a letter to Scottish transport minister Sarah Boyack, South Lanarkshire councillor Chris Thompson accuses Amey Highways of "unprofessional and unsafe" work where grass verges on major thoroughfares were cut too late and cuttings were simply left in piles to be blown by the wind. Similar work done by the council is of a much higher standard, he said.

The quality of finishes on verges are "nothing more than an eyesore" said Thompson. "Either the plant used or the operatives are not up to the job."

Thompson further claims the contractor failed to manage traffic during the process; "that is, tractors travelling along 50mph, high-speed dual carriageways while cutting grass on adjacent verges with no advance signing and not so much as a single cone."

The Scottish Executive has confirmed that default notices were served on Amey Highways last week and that if the situation is not corrected, further action will be considered.

Amey Highways said it was investigating the situation "to determine the accuracy of the councillor's comments".

Thompson suggests this is an example of the poor quality work which some expected after the Scottish Executive awarded contracts to manage and maintain trunk roads based on low prices. Amey Highways won the south-west and south-east units in April of this year, effectively removing local authority involvement.

At the time of the award Boyack claimed the private bid represented a saving of £50m on then current arrangements and that the minimum quality threshold specified in the contract would assure improvements over historical levels.

South Lanarkshire is currently suing the Scottish Executive over what it says was an unfair and opaque tendering process. A formal complaint about the tendering process has been lodged with the European Commission and an investigation, led by SMP Andy Kerr of the Scottish Executive's transport select committee, is due to get underway after the summer.