To provide an update on the services provided by Balfour Beatty Living Places (BBLP) during the first year of the council’s Public Realm contract to enable the committee to provide feedback to Cabinet and inform the work of the Task and Finish Group which has been established to examine this area in more detail.

The Assistant Director Place Based Commissioning introduced the report, his comments included:

i.           The Public Realm Services Contract (the contract) was the council’s largest service delivery contract by value and scope, with annual expenditure expected to be in excess of £20 million.

ii.          Balfour Beatty Living Places (BBLP) was awarded the contract following a major procurement exercise.  The contract had commenced on 1 September 2013 for an initial period of ten years, with options to extend for up to ten further years.

iii.         It was a high profile area of work and it was essential that service delivery and management of the contract was correct and value for money obtained.  Therefore, the Assistant Director welcomed the opportunity to reflect on the first twelve months and to consider opportunities for improvement.

iv.        Council and BBLP staff involved in the contract were introduced.

v.         Attention was drawn to the following points:

·                The contract was designed to focus upon the delivery of highways and directly related services.  The contract was based on the industry standard, New Engineering Contract (NEC), used by many councils.

·                The governance and contract management arrangements were outlined which sought to ensure the appropriate level of management overview and to build a strong partnership that was outcomes focused.

·                The relatively rapid mobilisation period was followed by some of the worst winter weather on record.  It was commented that the winter response and subsequent highway maintenance improvements had made a real difference to road conditions across the county.

·                It was commented that the level of response to reductions in service in terms grounds maintenance had been misjudged.  The position had been reviewed during the summer and resources had been increased to respond to public concerns.

Mr. Andy Williams, Contract Director at BBLP presented the company’s update document (this was appended to the report), the principal points included:

Contract start

1.         It was considered that the six week mobilisation had been undertaken effectively, with BBLP operating from the start with full emergency response teams.

2.         Further to the positive severe weather response, BBLP had helped the council team to secure £3.3 million from the Bellwin scheme and £3.5 million from the severe weather recovery scheme.

Rethinking the way we deliver the service

3.         The budgets had changed significantly from the previous financial year, with reductions in revenue budgets but increases in capital budgets. 

4.         BBLP had completed Herefordshire’s first Annual Plan for public realm services, setting out the services that would be delivered and the outcomes that communities should expect.

Starting the process of culture change

5.         A full organisational restructure had been undertaken, resulting in five new teams: Commercial and Finance; Design and Build; Operations; Knowledge Centre; and Locality Team.

6.         Although some positions in the new structure had yet to be filled, a full set of thirteen locality stewards were now in place.

What have we achieved in the year

7.         The severe weather had an impact upon roads already in poor condition, with over 67,000 defect reports identified from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17