Southampton Council monopoly for dropping kerb

lozsta

Hello everyone.

I am looking into the possibility of dropping the kerb outside my home and have sent in the application and I am awaiting them to come and inspect the property.

However if they do accept our application they have a "partnership" (read monopoly) with Balfour Beatty. I cannot post the link properly but it is easy to find on Southampton dot gov

I have been chasing around after some quotes and Balfour Beatty charge a minimum of £1400. Now I have several quotes from people who have the minimum insurance needed of £10 million, but they say that trying to get permission from the council is impossible.

I have looked at other councils in the country and none I can find apply this rule. Can someone shed any light on what legal speak I need to wave under the councils nose to get them to allow my to use my cheaper contractor please.

macman

It's their pavement and roadway, so there won't allow you to use your own contractor. If they have a ongoing contract with BB then they are bound by that.
If you think that arrangement is flawed then you would need to pursue it possibly via your local councillor.

lozsta

They clearly say you can appoint your own contractor. I would link the site but I am unable due to being a noob here.

My issue is that their have appointed a contractor who is very expensive, and I can find people with the required level of liability insurance, who are not as expensive. So I am wondering why it is that this is even allowed, whether it is their path or not the council is there to serve the residents (something they always forget).

We don't even want a driveway but are having to put one in due to the neighbours having excessive amounts of cars they insist on putting outside our house!

MX5huggy

http://www.southampton.gov.uk/s-environment/roadsandparking/roadsmaintenance/vehiclecrossings.aspx

Ask BB or the Council for the list of approved contractors. BB seem to be just doing the admin for the council

lozsta

Thank MX5huggy

Funnily enough I am meeting the guy from BB living places at my house this afternoon. He only just called. I do think it is immoral that they have allowed one contractor to tie up the whole process though (probably at our expense)

WestonDave

Write a letter to the local paper about councillors allowing this overpriced racket to continue and asking whether there is some kind of fraud going on. Should flush out a bit of embarrassment and prompt some answers.

Our council provides a list of accredited contractors when they send your approval back. Other thing worth checking out is whether your quotes are from companies registered on the Streetworks register (its based in Glasgow - I phoned them and asked about a potential contractor and they were very helpful). If they are on that and have the relevant insurance, its hard for the council to fob them off as being cowboys.

MX5huggy

I think you will find that BB are just have a contract with the council to administer the dropped curb scheme therefore the council don't have to employ surveyors and engineers waiting for the od dropped curb request.

WestonDave

That is probably how the arrangement is supposed to work, but it sounds like BB may be using that as a means of blocking any competitors cutting off their gravy train. If BB are in charge of saying whether a contractor can do the work and have an interest in doing it themselves then at best a conflict of interest arises. There's obviously no problem with a private contractor doing the surveying and checking the credentials of the proposed workmen if they aren't looking to do it themselves.

lozsta

They want £10 million liability cover. Which is steep to say the least. My missus makes wedding stationary as a hobby but makes a company out of it and she is insured up to £2.5 million... but I guess she isn't laying tarmac.

Good idea westondave I will look into that I know a man who works for the local rag

southcoastrgi

Soton council appointed BB as the main contractor some 18 months ago to maintain the highways that the council are responsible for & tbh since they took over quite a few roads have been completely re-surfaced & the work they have done is to a very high standard, certainly a darn site better than the cowboys that were doing it before, so i can understand they want to maintain that standard which they may not get if people use a third party, having a 10 million liability is no guarenty of a good job

lozsta

southcoastrgi wrote: »

Soton council appointed BB as the main contractor some 18 months ago to maintain the highways that the council are responsible for & tbh since they took over quite a few roads have been completely re-surfaced & the work they have done is to a very high standard, certainly a darn site better than the cowboys that were doing it before, so i can understand they want to maintain that standard which they may not get if people use a third party, having a 10 million liability is no guarenty of a good job

I am wondering where you live. My ride to work is on pot hole ridden roads, which haven't been resurfaced for a long time.

So far after writing to the Council email, and asking them to NOT send the email to Balfour Beatty they forward it to Balfour Beatty. I have asked for a list of contractors who have been approved to do the work in the last year. I also started a freedom of information request for the same information.

If they are the highways contractor that is all well and good but making it impossible for the people who fund the council (who again have put their local council tax up again by 2%) to get private contractors to do the work then there is something wrong!