Wiltshire Council and Milestone Infrastructure to work in partnership on new highways maintenance contract

Wiltshire Council is working with a new local highways maintenance contractor from Saturday 1 April, as Milestone Infrastructure begins its £80m, five-year contract to help make the county's highways more resilient.

The Milestone Infrastructure team will help to keep Wiltshire moving by maintaining streetlights, cleaning and emptying gullies and drains, repairing potholes, gritting in winter, undertaking emergency maintenance and maintaining carriageways, footways, bridges and verges.

Milestone Infrastructure will also employ the council's Parish Stewards, who work closely with Wiltshire's town and parish councils to fix small highways issues in their communities.

The five-year contract has a focus on reducing carbon emissions, as part of council's Business Plan commitment to become carbon neutral as an organisation by 2030.

Another key focus of the contract is social value, and so Milestone Infrastructure has a dedicated Social Value and Communications Manager, who will work closely with the council to benefit the local economy and engage with disadvantaged groups, including people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and care leavers, who will be offered employment and training opportunities.

Cllr Caroline Thomas, Cabinet Member for Transport, said: This new maintenance contract with Milestone Infrastructure represents a significant investment in our communities. It will help us to keep Wiltshire on the move, while also delivering on our key pledge to be a carbon neutral organisation by 2030.

Highways maintenance is a key priority for us as a council, because we know how important it is for our residents and local businesses to travel safely and efficiently - be that walking, wheeling, cycling or driving - and we'll be working closely with Milestone Infrastructure over the coming years to improve the very successful Parish Steward scheme, and invest in social value initiatives that work with and enhance our communities.

Jim Daughton, Operations Director at Milestone Infrastructure, said: Milestone Infrastructure is delighted to enter into this collaborative new relationship with Wiltshire Council. We're looking forward to working with the local authority in the delivery of the new highway maintenance arrangements.

Focusing on our carbon and social value commitments will be a key driver for us as we jointly work towards the delivery of safer, greener highways.