Hampshire County Council and two private companies have won the first two “super agency” contracts worth £17m for the repair and maintenance of more than 500 miles of trunk roads and motorways. A consortium comprising the council and Mott MacDonald will operate in Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex and parts of Wiltshire, East Sussex, Dorset and Berkshire. Rust Consulting will be solely responsible for an area covering most of Berkshire and parts of Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Essex, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
The number of agencies responsible for England’s main routes is being reduced from 82 to 24. Private companies are now allowed to bid for contracts alongside councils which have carried out most maintenance since the 1940s.
- Financial Times 29/8/96 page 6
