Costain in joint venture with CH2M has been awarded a £300 million contract to maintain East Sussex's highways network over the next seven years.

The contract, which will start on 1 May, will bring together several aspects of highways maintenance, such as roads, pavements, drainage, street lights, traffic lights and structures that are currently run by outside contractors and the county council.

For Costain, this is the first highways maintenance contract to be won from a county council, covering a much broader spectrum of activities than normal.

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Around 20 East Sussex staff will manage the contract and the council will retain control of areas such as policy setting, long-term strategy and service development.

"We're going to be really interactive with the general public," said David Bailey, Costain's Local Authorities Director.

"A local call centre handles some 100,000 calls annually, with the service handling around 30,000 defects a year. By creating a new website through which residents can report road or street lighting problems and receive status updates, the JV is seeking to drive down this number.

"To make it easier for the call centre personnel – dubbed STARS, or ‘Service To All Residents' – an automated customer relationship management system called Sales Force will be making its first appearance in this area of work. Staff coming on duty will find calls ranked in levels of priority and an important part of the system will be to put more information at the STARS’ fingertips, so they can answer more residents' enquiries.

"The website will also open a line of communication with local councillors."

(CD/MH)