Cheshire Council backs away from Jarvis

In an extraordinary move, Cheshire County Council is reviewing the award of a £140m highways maintenance deal only days after naming troubled contractor Jarvis as its preferred contractor.

Late last week, Jarvis emerged as the front-runner ahead of Edmund Nuttall for the term-maintenance project, but the decision has now been called in under the council’s procedural rules.

In a legally-approved statement the council now says: “No contract has yet been awarded. Last Friday’s decision of the Executive has been called in by three members under the council’s procedural rules.”

The statement continues: “The matter will now be considered by members of the Performance and Overview Sub-Committee – a scrutiny body of the council. Members will review the situation and decide whether any further advice needs to be given to the Executive.”

No date has yet been set for when the sub-committee will meet – a council spokesman would only say it will convene “sometime soon”.

The council will not say why council members are unhappy about Jarvis getting a second bite of the highways maintenance – the contractor is the present incumbent on a contract that has now come up for renewal.

But a source close to the scheme said: “It doesn’t take an Einstein to work out that the council is worried about Jarvis’ financial predicament and is now questioning the wisdom of its decision to award the deal to the contractor for a second term.”