Purpose

Proposed
decision:
To procure and delegate authority to the
Corporate Director for Growth, Environment and Transport to award
and enter into appropriate contractual arrangements for the
provision of Emergency Tree Works including any potential extension
periods, and to take any further decisions or actions necessary to
deliver the contract
 
Reason for the decision
The Council has a legal duty to
keep roads and pavements clear of vegetation for safe passage of
highway users. The main service areas within this contract comprise
of clearing felled trees, most notably in adverse weather
conditions.
 
The existing contract (SC21010) is
currently operating under an 18-month extension period, which
commenced in November 2024 and will conclude on the 31st March
2026.
 
The services will need to be
commissioned externally to ensure the Council meets its statutory
obligations.
 
Background
The proposed
Highway Emergency Tree Works Contract enables
the procurement and delivery of emergency response specialist tree
surgery teams to attend at short notice on a 24/7 basis. Emergency
type response times will include 2 hour and 24-hour requirement.
Suppliers will be required to provide suitably qualified staff and
have access to the necessary specialised equipment to be able to
remove fallen trees and branches from causing an obstruction to the
highway.
 
There is no programmed works
included, and work volumes are dictated by the weather and where
emergency situations occur. This varies from year to year and is
largely dependent on the prevailing weather and storm
events.
 
Lotting
To
enable delivery across the County the following lots are being
sought:
 

-     
Lot 1 (West) - Dartford, Gravesham, Maidstone, Sevenoaks,
Tonbridge & Malling and Tunbridge
Wells  

-     
Lot 2 (East) - Ashford,
Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe, Swale and
Thanet

-     
There will be provision in the Contract to allow
Medway to be added subject to future Local Government
Reorganisation (LGR).
 
 
How
the proposed decision supports the KCC Strategic
Statement
This proposal is
aligned with the council’s strategic statement and direction
of the emerging 'Reforming Kent' agenda
 

-     
This contract will focus on collecting data through
a Tree Failure Database which will allow measures to be taken to
reduce costs through recharging private owners and informing tree
owners of their responsibilities to regularly inspect trees. This
will reduce the occurrence of tree failures and limit the Councils
liabilities.
 

Financial Implications

 
Contracts have been linked to the
GM87 indices over the course of the contract, so prices have been
maintained in line with the prevailing inflation rate. A
competitive procurement process will appoint the best value
contractor from the tenders submitted.

The overall spend for this contract is gradually
rising as a result of an increase in severe weather events and
diseases such as Ash Die back becoming more prevalent but also
because of inflation. These factors have contributed to the average
spend on the Contract going from £338k/pa in 2021 to
£544k/pa in 2024.This is currently funded through the
highway’s emergency budget with major named storm events
being funded through one off corporate reserves.
There are no programmed works
included, and work volumes are dictated by the weather and where
emergency situations occur. This varies from year to year and is
largely dependent on the prevailing weather and major storm
events.
 
Due to the unknown nature of the
service the published value of works will be set to £1.5m per
year to provide contractual headroom. This will allow for
inflation, unpredictable major weather events and the contracts use
by other Council teams.
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member for Highways &
Transport, I agree to give: 
 

APPROVAL
to procure and award a new Emergency
Tree Works contract for up to five years with an opportunity to
extend this for up to three further years,

 

DELEGATE
authority to the Director of Highways and Transport
to take relevant actions to facilitate the required procurement
activity,

 

DELEGATE
authority to the Corporate Director of Growth,
Economy and Transport, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for
Highways and Transport to take relevant actions including but not
limited to awarding, finalising the terms of and entering into the
relevant contracts or other legal agreements, as necessary, to
implement the decision and

 

DELEGATE authority to the Corporate Director of Growth, Economy and
Transport, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highways and
Transport, to award extensions of the contract in accordance with
the relevant clauses within the contract.