HC Deb 22 March 1989 vol 149 cc589-90W
Mr. Redmond

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list(a) the local authorities that have been appointed to design trunk road schemes valued in excess of £1 million and (b) where competition has been invited for the design of such schemes the local authorities which have been invited to submit competitive bids.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

Since fee competition between consultants was introduced in January 1985, the local authorities listed in the Table have been appointed to design trunk road construction and improvement schemes estimated to cost over £1 million.

Local authority Number of schemes
1. Bedfordshire CC 1
2. Cambridgeshire CC 3
3. Cheshire CC 1
4. Cornwall CC 3
5. Cumbria CC 3
6. Devon CC 1
7. Dorset CC 2
8. Durham CC 1
9. Gloucestershire CC 1
10. Hampshire CC 1
11. Hertfordshire CC 1
12. Humberside CC 1
13. Kent CC 1
14. Norfolk CC 1
15. Northamptonshire CC 2
16. Northumberland CC 1
17. North Yorkshire CC 1
18. Shropshire CC 1
19. Staffordshire CC 2
20. Suffolk CC 2
21. Warwickshire CC 1
22. West Sussex CC 1
23. Wiltshire CC 2

As already explained, local highway authorities are also appointed to design major maintenance schemes costing over £1 million in the areas where the trunk road network is managed by them. They do not bid for either type of work.

Mr. Redmond

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what is the Government's policy on whether the design of trunk road schemes valued in excess of £1 million should be carried out in the public or private sector; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

Our policy is to allocate the design work for trunk road construction and improvement schemes estimated to cost over £1 million to private sector consultants, through competitive tendering. Exceptionally, such work may be awarded without recourse to competition, to the highway authority in whose area the scheme lies. This is where the authority has already carried out some of the design and allocation to a consultant would involve delay or extra costs; where the project is interlinked with an adjacent local highway authority scheme; or where there is a large amount of traffic management and control which would involve the authority in any event.

The design of major maintenance schemes costing over £1 million is handled by the authority or consultant who is responsible for managing the maintenance of the part of the trunk road network in question. Most of the network is managed by local highway authorities.