Street Lighting Highway Signs PFI

							     City of
  SUNDERLAND
 Development & Regeneration Directorate



 Street Lighting &
Highway Signs PFI
What is a Private Finance
Initiative?
• A PFI is an alternative way of procuring a
  service, which involves a long term
  partnership arrangement between the Local
  Authority and a Contractor.
• With a PFI the Government provides
  additional funding to the Local Authority’s
  revenue expenditure.
Introduction
The following presentation
gives an overview of the
Street Lighting and
Highways Signs PFI for the
City of Sunderland
Background
• Concern over deterioration in condition of lighting and
  highway sign stock
• Accidents involving failed lighting columns, including a
  fatality in Gateshead in 1995
• Statutory duty to maintain lighting if provided
• Lighting levels across the City not meeting public
  expectations
• Need to address community and social issues relating to
  crime reduction, perception of public safety and accident
  reduction,
Why PFI?
• “Options Appraisal” exercise showed that an
  accelerated replacement programme was best and
  therefore preferred option
• Feasibility study concluded that PFI route would
  be the only way of achieving the preferred option
• Currently PFI remains the only realistic route for
  securing the necessary capital investment
What is the Street Lighting and
Highway Signs PFI?
• 25 year contract between CoS and the PFI Contractor
• Replacement of 30,500 street lighting columns and 8,000
  highway signs in the first five years of the PFI programme
• Provision of 6,000 additional lighting columns to improve
  lighting standards
• PFI credit of £26m from Department for Transport
• Transfer of financial and operational risk from the City to the
  PFI Contractor
• Financial and contractual penalties if performance standards
  are not achieved
• Service commencement 1st September 2003
How will the Contractor do the
work?
• Transfer of Street Lighting workforce from the City
• Core Investment Programme (CIP) 75% of stock renewed
  in the first 5 years
• Ongoing general maintenance of street lighting and
  highway signs stock
• Street lighting design for traffic, highway and housing
  developments
• Potential for design & build for developers which will
  make adoptions of highway easier
• Database to deal with customer enquiries and service
  requests
Do CoS have a role to play?
• Definitely YES
• Monitoring & co-ordinating the work of the PFI Contractor
• Two man monitoring team, Allan Calvert and Michael
  Curry
• Monitoring team will be first point of contact for all street
  lighting & highway signs service requests
• Co-ordination with other works in the highway including
  Utility, Highway Maintenance and Traffic Schemes with
  CIP
• Agreeing Performance Standards and administering the
  payments to the Contractor
What will it mean to the people
of Sunderland?
• Improved lighting levels
• Improved environment due to aesthetics of
  new lighting stock
• Reduction in crime and the fear of crime
• Reduction in night-time road traffic
  accidents
Who can I talk to about the PFI?



 In the first instance contact either Allan Calvert or Michael Curry
                     on 0191 5531690 or by email
  allan.calvert@sunderland.gov.uk or michael.curry@sunderland.gov.uk