North Herefordshire MP Sir Bill Wiggin has welcomed the county council’s decision to drop Balfour Beatty as its main road repair contractor and to retender for the work.

“For far too long our roads have needed resurfacing,” the Conservative MP said.

He said of the previous Independents for Herefordshire / Green coalition which ran the county that “they their contractors seemed to do very little for road users”.

With millions of new cash for transport improvements awarded to the county, “This can reverse the anti-road agenda that the Green and Independent council left us with and repair the terrible roads that drivers are suffering from,” he said.

He added that their decision in 2021 to cancel the western city bypass plan “was bad enough, but failing to deliver on road repairs has meant the new proactive Conservative council has had to take a long hard look at how they put things right”.

“They have concluded that they need more flexibility and will retender for companies to deliver great value to ensure that Herefordshire’s roads are no long neglected,” he said.

Last week the MP called on the council to “decide if Balfour Beatty are capable of overseeing the spending of North Herefordshire’s £106,918,000 on road resurfacing”.

The council’s cabinet duly did this in a closed session last Thursday (April 25).

A Balfour Beatty Living Places spokesperson said: “We are aware that Herefordshire Council intend to retender the Herefordshire public realm contract to allow them to focus on a new operating model.

“We have enjoyed working alongside the council over the last 11 years to successfully deliver public realm services to benefit local communities and residents across the county, and remain committed to delivering these through the current contract until May 2026.”