Pothole repair firm could be fined for bad fixes

A major highways firm whose pothole repair work was described as "ridiculous" and "unbelievable" by a council's officers could now be fined for bad fixes.

Cambridgeshire County Council's £51m-per-year contract with M Group - which the council admitted had not delivered the "service levels expected or required" - was due to end next year.

The council, which is going through local government reorganisation, has chosen to extend to 2030, with the Highways and Transport Committee chair Alex Beckett, stating the government had "given us extra advice to say that we can't simply go out and sign a new contract right now".

M Group said it would "continue to drive innovation and best practice".

In March last year, papers from the council's Highways and Transport Committee stated "response times and quality of work is a continued concern" when referring to its M Group contract, which is for a range of services including pothole repairs.

The BBC obtained internal council documents, in which officers reviewed individual repairs and claimed to have seen "very poor workmanship", the some repairs were failing within weeks and in one case claimed the "photo say[s] it all".

A group of six or so small pothole repairs in Wimblington, Cambridgeshire, was labelled "ridiculous" and the papers said they should all be made into one patch, rather than a series of smaller square patches that overlap.

Two weeks after repair work was carried on Priory Road in St Neots town centre council officers went out and said it was: "Not very good at all, areas marked up by [council] officers have not been carried out, dimensions smaller than marked out, clearly shows where pothole needed repair as breaking up but wasn't carried out."

Cambridgeshire County Council will likely not exist in a few years as part of local government reorganisation.

Beckett, a Liberal Democrat councillor, said his "preference would have been to go out to re-procurement but that wasn't an option in this case".

The authority said the extension by three years will mean future councils could get their own highways maintenance deal, while caveats have now been added to the deal now in place.

On the new contract Beckett said: "We will now have financial penalties in place so where previously we could only ask our contractor to go and redo the repair, now if we find that there is a quality failing they will actually be fined for that.

"We're insisting that they take a photo of every single repair so that we can then go and check those afterwards, anywhere up to a year, we can go back, look at the evidence of what was done and make sure that it was up to the standards that we require."

He said the amount the company would be fined was commercially sensitive but "it's enough that we think it will incentivise them to be doing the right course of action first time".

Matthew Riches, M Group operations director, said: "We're delighted to be continuing our productive and collaborative relationship with Cambridgeshire County Council.

"We will continue to drive innovation and best practice, taking a proactive approach to ensure Cambridgeshire residents receive an efficient, high-quality service.

"With our commitment to safer, greener highways, combined with the council's ambitions, we are placing safety, value for money, environmental responsibility, and our communities at the heart of everything we deliver."

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been contacted for comment.

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