Peterborough ‘in better position than many councils’ with potholes

Peterborough City Council’s cabinet agreed to allocate nearly £2 million towards pothole prevention as part of major spending on the city’s highways network.

The authority’s cabinet met on Tuesday, April 15 and approved a Transport Capital Programme of works, authorising the award of the £7.6 million works to its highways partner Milestone Infrastructure Limited.

It is proposed that the funding, made up of two Department for Transport grants, is distributed across five programmes of work across the city.

These include integrated transport improvements (£1.2 million), highways improvements (£2.5 million), pothole prevention improvements (£1.9 million), street lighting improvements (£800,000) and bridge improvements (£1.2 million).

At the cabinet meeting on April 15, councillor Mohammed Jamil, deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, said he often receives complaints from residents about “unsightly” materials used to fill in potholes and resurface roads.

The Labour councillor asked: “What can we do to make sure the work is up to standard?”

Adrian Chapman, the council’s executive director for place and economy, insisted that the authority is in a better position than others across the country.

He said: “We work with Milestone all the time on new technologies and we’ve trialled several things over the last couple of years to look at how we might deliver pothole repairs in different ways, using different forms of machinery that cause less disruption but create a permanent repair.

“Watch this space. Technology is changing all the time. By comparison to many other councils, I know one pothole is one pothole too many, but we are generally in a much better position than many councils across the country.”

Cllr Jamil also asked how the council will guarantee that it receives value for money from the contractor and ensure that it is “not just taking us for a ride”.

Mr Chapman replied: “We’re very alive to this. The value of this contract is significant and the work that Milestone deliver for the city is crucial to keep the city moving and keep road users and pedestrians safe.

“We hold a monthly board meeting with senior officials from Milestone and from the city council – the director, service director and the cabinet member are in attendance.

“We review performance across a range of indicators including financial performance to make sure that value is being driven through the contract.”

He added: “For the projects where we have secured additional funding, and therefore there is no obligation for us to commission Milestone to deliver those projects, we have started to test the market to make sure that what we are getting back from Milestone is competitive.

“We are due to meet with another operator in a few weeks time just to explore possible alliances around the major growth projects we’ve got going on in the city.”

Councillor Angus Ellis, cabinet member for transport, highlighted that Milestone is up for a national award for their highways work.

He said: “The performance is really good and it’s important that we put that out there because it’s easy to knock city council services.”

The £7.6 million highways funding will see the delivery of a variety of schemes to upgrade the city’s network, including roads, footpaths, street lighting, bridges, cycle routes, pavements and bus stops.

It is made up of two Department for Transport (DfT) grants, one using a needs-based formula and the other being additional funding to maintain and upgrade the highway.

Cabinet members approved the proposed Transport Capital Programme of works for 2025/2026 and authorised the direct award of the works to Milestone Infrastructure Limited, utilising the existing Peterborough Highways Term Service Contract for a total sum not exceeding £7,575,787.