Thursday 27 January 2011

WHY STREETS IN OSCOTT ARE BEING UPGRADED AT LAST


Why are our streets being updgaded in Oscott is a question I have been asked recently and the summary below is the best answer i can come up with at the moment.

Amey ( a private contractor) is responsible for improving and maintaining Birmingham Highways infrastructure, including 2,500km of road network, nearly 100,000 street lights, as well as over 850 highway structures and bridges across the city.
By working in partnership with Birmingham City Council, Amey will be delivering a step change of improvements to the city’s highways network over the first five years (2010-2015) to remove any backlog of work and increase standards.
The contract has a 25 year service delivery period which includes the improvement and repair of roads in Birmingham, maintenance of footways, bridges, street lighting and traffic signals as well as the upkeep of street scenery such as safety barriers, seats and trees.
Amey will maintain the infrastructure at this improved standard for a further 20 years.

PFI stands for Private Finance Initiative was the brain child of the former Labour Government it is when private and public sectors come together to deliver public services. The council defines what work it wants carried out and the service provider, in this case Amey, determines how that service is provided and financed. The council receives PFI credits from the Government and Amey raises private funds to deliver the improvements required. This £2.7bn highways maintenance and management PFI is the biggest local government highways sector PFI in the UK and has attracted over £600.million from the Treasury.

Sadly for a few years now the Birmingham Council,s administration has neglected many of our roads in Oscott and this is a way through the former governments intervention and help this sitation can now be addressed at last.

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