Council trumpets 25-year road deal

Earlier this week, Sheffield Council selected contractor Amey for the 25-year deal – which will involve up-grading every road, pavement and street light in the city over the next five years and then maintaining them to that standard for the 20 remaining years.

Council chief executive John Mothersole said that the project, which is one of the largest private finance initiative (PFI) schemes in the country, was “better than once-in-a-lifetime”.

He added: “Every part of the city will benefit from day one.

“At any one point, there will be several areas being done, scattered all over the city, to spread the benefit and spread the load.”

The PFI contract includes the improvement of Sheffield’s 1,900km of roads, 3,300km of footpaths, 500 traffic signals, 68,000 street lights, and more than 18,000 items of street furniture.