Agenda item

Purpose of Report

To agree to enter into a design and build contract to replace the pavement at the Hard interchange bus apron.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that the Cabinet Member for Transport approves:

1.    The appointment of Mildren Construction Ltd to undertake the design and build pavement replacement at the bus apron.

2.    That this appointment is to take place in advance of the conclusion of the ongoing legal process.  There is a risk that further delay in the pavement replacement could result in an unplanned substantial failure which will lead to vehicles not being able to access the bus apron.

Martin Lavers, Assistant Director, presented the report, the purpose of which was to seek agreement to enter into a design and build contract to replace the pavement at The Hard Interchange bus apron.

Members' Questions

In response to Members' questions, officers clarified:

·         A layby for dropping of and picking up passengers will be provided but the location had not yet been decided.

·          The non-contractor costs include everything apart from the cost of the repairs that have been carried out to date on the bus apron.  The total amounts shown are what has already been spent including legal fees.

·         A £4.9 million bid in the Capital Programme was agreed in the Budget and it is hoped that the Council should be able to recoup £3million which should zero off the Transport Budget Portfolio Budget of £4.9million.

·         Included in the £650k contingency sum is about 30% on the construction cost.  The sooner the construction is commenced the more confidence there will be on the actual spend figure.

·         There is a financial implication to the Transport Portfolio Capital Programme should the legal challenge fail.  The Council may have to go to its insurers.

·         It was too soon to say if there would be an impact on other schemes.  The legal challenge may take some time.  The implications would be better answered by Chris Ward, Director of Finance and Resources.

·         The legal challenge was currently going through mediation with a time limit of the middle of 2025.  If the mediation fails then it will be taken to Court so it could take a couple of years to resolve.

·         The construction work will commence Autumn 2024 and will take approximately 4 months to complete.  Autumn was chosen to avoid the main summer holiday season to minimise the disruption to bus services.

·         Legal services had checked that the original design company held appropriate insurance, but it was not known if this would still be valid should the company wind up.

·         The preferred bidder for the current scheme was Mildren.

Members' Comments

Members agreed that the work needed to be completed but were concerned regarding the legal challenge and the possibility that the money may not be recouped.  It was suggested that a further joint paper be bought to a Transport Portfolio decision meeting on the legal and financial impacts and risks.

Decision

The Cabinet Member for Transport:

1.    Approved the appointment of Mildren Construction Ltd to undertake the design and build pavement replacement at the bus apron;

2.    Approved that the appointment should take place in advance of the conclusion of the ongoing legal process due to the risk that further delay in the pavement replacement could result in an unplanned substantial failure which would lead to vehicles not being able to access the bus apron.

Electric Vehicle Charging Points Update

The Chair provided an update on the current discussion with the 3 companies responsible for managing and providing the EV charging point situation.

The Chair advised the initial bid for the points was to the Office for Zero Emissions by the City Council.  The four companies involved in the discussions are Southern Electric who are the providers of the electricity, the two companies who installed and run the charge points and Portsmouth City Council who have allowed the use of the road space and light columns.

The Chair noted the surprise of the Council when Southern Electric (SE) contacted them to say they had safety concerns about the points that had been installed by the contractors as some had been in place for several years.  Portsmouth City Council contacted the suppliers of the charging points and passed on the concerns of SE.  The companies carried out inspections to ensure they were, in their view, safe.  However, SE wanted to carry out their own inspections which are still ongoing.  The council is still in discussions with SE to complete these inspections as soon as possible.  SE have advised the council of the legal timescale they have to operate to which is 28 days.  The Council continues to work closely with SE and the other companies to resolve the issue.

The Chair advised that, whilst the charging points are out of operation, the bays could be parked in by non-electric vehicles.  Clear signage and information would be provided once the bays were up and running and were once again only for electric vehicles.

The Chair agreed that once the charging points are back online there would be an investigation and summary about what had happened and to consider lessons learned and this would be bought to a future Transport Portfolio meeting.

It was not known whether there would be any costs for the city council associated with the work being done to resolve the issue.