Council invests in highway equipment

An investment of £450,000 in equipment for highway maintenance work will allow Powys County Council to deliver road improvements more quickly and efficiently.

The equipment – which includes JCB mini excavators, skid steer loaders and tandem vibratory rollers – will be used by the council’s highways team for routine maintenance works including patching, sweeping, ditching and drainage works.

Councillor John Brunt, cabinet member for highways, said: “The council has to reduce its spending by £29.8 million over the next three financial years. This means we need to look at how we provide services and see if they can be delivered differently to meet these savings.

“By purchasing this equipment as part of a capital investment, not only are we providing the right tools to our staff to carry out the work and improve our highway maintenance service, we are reducing our reliance on using hire equipment, which can be very expensive.

“All of the new plant assets feature JCB’s LiveLink telematics system so that we can get high-quality data to our highways managers so we can ensure they are being utilised fully. This is a positive spend-to-save initiative which will help the council meet its savings targets.”

The investment is part of the council’s plant and vehicle review project, which has been ongoing for the last 14 months. A detailed review of essential plant equipment and vehicle requirements, as well as the way the council carries our routine highway maintenance works, has taken place as part of the project.

The project has seen the council auction off old plant equipment that was no longer fit-for-purpose. The money made from the auction of the old equipment has been re-invested into the new assets that have been purchased.