Joint highways company to provide services in Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire County Council and Cornwall Council have set up a new company to provide highways and fleet management services in Nottinghamshire.

Via – the Latin word for road – will become operational in July, under a 10-year contract, extendable for a further five years.

The new company will be owned by the public sector and will also be able to trade commercially to gain work of up to 20% of its turnover.

Members from both councils approved plans for the new company, which will be supported by CORSERV, part of CORMAC, Cornwall Council’s arms-length highways company, last May.

A launch event is being held at Nottinghamshire County Council’s highways depot in Bilsthorpe on 10 May where representatives from both authorities will symbolically sign the side of a highways vehicle emblazoned with the new company’s logo.

“As far as residents are concerned, the new company will continue to provide an excellent service in terms of the way work is carried out on Nottinghamshire roads and they should continue to contact the county council direct with highways issues,” said Coun Alan Rhodes, leader of Nottinghamshire County Council.

“Via provides us with an opportunity to safeguard the continued delivery of a quality highways service for Nottinghamshire well into the future.

“It will help us to ensure continued improvement against a backdrop of ever-increasing demand on our services.”

Adam Paynter, Cornwall Council’s cabinet member for resources, added: “This is an exciting opportunity for both Cornwall Council and Nottinghamshire County Council and is a reciprocal relationship which will see both authorities learning from each other and sharing knowledge and experience.

“Not only will the launch of the new company create new jobs in both Cornwall and Nottinghamshire, it will also bring additional revenue back into both councils.”