North Midland moves to defuse pay row

North Midland Construction has held a subcontractors' summit in a bid to sort out payment problems on a £30m cable laying laying job in north Wales.

Smaller firms on the job have complained about bills not being paid by larger specialists on the project.

Among those claiming to be owed money are a haulage contractor in north west Wales which is due £30,000 and a Cheshire construction company which has £250,000 outstanding.

North Midland is the main contractor employed on the FibreSpeed project by client Geo.

A company statement said: "We are currently working to resolve the alleged non-payment of subcontractors within the supply chain and have held a meeting with those involved.

"The aim of the meeting was to determine how much is owed by NMC’s subcontractors to other parties in the supply chain and how the dispute can be resolved."

Martin Queally, managing director of the utilities division of NMC said: "Following the meeting it was agreed that we will work with our supply chain and their subcontractors in order to settle the dispute as quickly and amicably as possible."