Has this happened in any other county?A PRIVATE firm could be given a contract worth up to £3billion to oversee Essex’s entire road network.
Essex County Council has published a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union calling for bids from one or more companies to “transform the way in which highways and transportation services are delivered”.
The authority is looking to offer a firm or consortium a ten-year contract worth between £500million and £3billion, according to the notice.
The huge range of work the successful bidder would carry out includes safety inspections, resurfacing works, improvements to junctions, new zebra crossings and managing the county’s traffic control centre.
They would also be responsible for highways lighting, supplying and maintaining bus stops, some consultancy work and more.If it goes ahead, I would imagine the winning bidder or consortium will be the bidder that comes in at the lowest price (assuming all the bids are plausible) and therefore the winner will continue to keep Essex's street lighting costs as low as possible, else run the risk of being out of pocket as a result of bidding so low.
Thankfully, this policy of keeping ancient stock in service for as long as possible and not replacing anything unless you absolutely have to seems to be current Essex County Council policy which I am eternally thankful for, because it means much of the county's fantastic lighting heritage is still in evidence to this day.
I wonder whether this notice inviting tenders to bid for control of the county's street lighting for the next ten years means the Council have conceded that there can't be any money available for that street lighting PFI they wanted?
Also, if there is a consortium bid, I hope Essex's current street lighting contractor is part of it. The knowledge my contact has of what street lighting is where in my corner of Essex is staggering (after years of covering the same patch) and it really puts my knowldege of the local area to shame! Clearly his knowledge brings a benefit to the council and his employers. Furthermore, his van and garage are like an Aladdin's cave of bits of young but damaged lanterns which are in the process of being stored, repaired or rewired so they can be put back into service in a new location. His efforts alone of re-using perfectly serviceable lanterns where possible, instead of ordering news ones, must save the council at least a five-figure sum of money every year!