North Lanarkshire Council has today named Amey as the preferred bidder for its highways, street lighting and winter services contract.
Under the agreement, worth up to £200m, Amey will continue to improve and maintain the North Lanarkshire road network – including 1,450km of road and 56,000 street lights – for up to 13 years.
Amey has been delivering highway maintenance services across North Lanarkshire on behalf of the Council since 2000, through an innovative Private Public Partnership contract. During this time, Amey achieved a 20 per cent reduction in accidents and casualties on the roads, thanks to a series of innovations and safety initiatives.
Councillor Jimmy Coyle, convener of Planning and Transportation for North Lanarkshire Council, said: “I am delighted that, subject to successful conclusion, we will be working again with Amey to deliver roads, street lighting and winter maintenance for North Lanarkshire.
“Our partnership has gone from strength to strength over the last decade in terms of service delivery and growth. But just as important is our shared commitment to creating employment and training opportunities and the benefits that brings to the wider community.”
Mel Ewell, Amey chief executive, said: “Amey is extremely pleased to be named as preferred bidder for this key contract with North Lanarkshire Council.
“This announcement is testament of our strong track record delivering highways, street lighting and winter maintenance services on behalf of the Council over the last 10 years.
“Amey is a leading public services provider and we will be using all our highways experience and expertise to continue to make North Lanarkshire’s roads as safe as possible.”
As part of the new contract, Amey will also continue to help the Council meet its aim of making North Lanarkshire a better place to live in, work in, or visit. This will include helping 60 long-term unemployed people to find work over the life of the contract.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
• Amey Roads North Lanarkshire Ltd. (ARNL)
Through an innovative Public Private Partnership (PPP), Amey and North Lanarkshire Council operate as Amey Roads North Lanarkshire Ltd (ARNL). The partnership provides a road maintenance service for North Lanarkshire Council, Scotland’s fourth largest local authority, as well as trading in the wider Scottish local authority market.
Since its creation in 2000, ARNL continues to exceed the Council’s expectations in terms of financial return, service improvement, local employment, social inclusion initiatives and health and safety performance. The number of people employed has increased from 110 to 220. The Council is a direct shareholder within the business and the financial revenue generated from the contract and works for other third parties has been reinvested by the Council to provide service improvements across the board for North Lanarkshire’s residents.
Amey’s commitment to the local community is demonstrated by our ongoing involvement in the Council’s ‘North Lanarkshire’s Working’ initiative, where we provide practical training followed by full-time employment for the long-term unemployed. We also participate in “Enterprise in Education”, having formed a partnership with a local comprehensive school. Our commitment to the environment saw us recycling virtually 100% of our waste materials in 2007, and we are now extending the process to incorporate recycled waste materials back into the local road network.