Ross Bullerwell, the current Managing Director of Rennicks (UK), is to leave his post in September to join North Yorkshire Highways Ltd (NY Highways).
Mr Bullerwell will take up the post of Managing Director at NY Highways and will bring his extensive experience of running contracting businesses with him.
North Yorkshire has the largest network in England-5,750 miles of roads which stretch from Scarborough to Bentham and Teesside to south of the M62. The council has said it wants to ensure it can face the challenges that lie ahead through greater flexibility and a more local focus whilst maintaining service levels.
Mr Bullerwell said: “To be in at ground level on a major new business such as NY Highways is a fantastic opportunity, I can’t wait to get started. NY Highways offers me the chance to work on delivering the best quality highways service to the residents of North Yorkshire, efficiency matched with a truly localised and tailored feel.”
“The creation of NY Highways Ltd is an exciting opportunity for the County Council, said David Bowe, the County Council’s Corporate Director and Non-Executive Director of NY Highways Ltd, “and the appointment of Ross Bullerwell is an important step forward by the company. Given Ross’s background and experience this appointment puts us in a very strong position for the future.” The new company will begin operations next June.
The county council currently delivers its highway maintenance work through a contract with Ringway. Through this arrangement the authority has delivered significant improvements to the condition of its highways network, provided essential winter maintenance services as well as ensuring an effective response to emergencies such as flooding.
However, an assessment of future service challenges concluded that the preferred option was a ‘Teckal’ company for the delivery of the operational highway maintenance service. This contract is currently worth in the region of £40 million a year.
Cllr Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said: “Having our own company gives us greater control and flexibility over our highways service delivery, while removing the contractual constraints that exist with the current arrangements. Through more direct accountability for the works on the ground we aim to deliver a ‘right first time’ service with the customer continuing to be at the heart of everything that we do. A very large proportion of the highways team live in North Yorkshire, they are passionate about their communities and take pride in delivering services which are used by their own friends and families. We believe the new company will ensure that we get the maximum benefit from that local pride and passion and we are delighted to have Ross Bullerwell on board to take it forward.”
