Critical digital infrastructure specialist Telent has been awarded a contract to maintain West Yorkshire’s traffic signals, the largest contract of its kind.
The maintenance involved includes both reactive and planned and preventative maintenance. Reactive involves responding to faults – such as a signal going down, a lamp going out, or a vehicle detector failing to communicate with centre – 24/7, 365-days-of-the-year. Planned and preventative is the visiting of sites, checking the status of the relevant assets, and making sure the sites are in good condition and at full functionality.
The contract also means employment opportunities are being brought to the following local authority areas; City of Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council, Calderdale Council, Kirklees Council, Leeds City Council, and Wakefield Council. Telent is actively recruiting installers as well as a contracts coordinator. Additionally, eight engineers, one admin staff, have been transferred (TUPE) from the previous supplier.
“We’ve successfully mobilised this project within a very short period to provide these authorities with the support to continue keeping their residents and visitors as safe as possible on the road. We look forward to strengthening our position in in the region with this contract and delivering out expertise and experience to the region” said Nigel Weldon at Telent. “The contract also follows a string of recent successes including five-year extensions to contracts with West Sussex County Council and Kent County Council and a new contract with Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council.”
Telent is responsible for the maintenance, fault rectification and repair of 1,600 sites over a geographical area covering 2,029 km². The sites include assets such as traffic signals, lights, vehicle detectors and monitors, and other roadside assets.
Telent, committed to supporting local community projects in its regional work, is sponsoring Carlton Cricket Club U13 teams and Rothwell Juniors U11’s football club alongside the contract.
Joel Dodsworth, Urban Traffic Management Control team for Leeds City Council, said: “This contract brings value to the local area, through both the project itself as well as the presence of Telent as a business and employer in the area. Telent’s expertise and experience with traffic maintenance work fills us with confidence going into this contract and we look forward to working with the team. Keeping road users safe and journey times efficient is a priority for the Council, and with this new contract we are committed to guaranteeing the level of service expected by residents and visitors to the area.”
The contract started on 1st April this year and runs to 31st March 2025 with the option to extend up to a maximum of 8 years. The contract will be run out of Telent’s Micklefield Regional Service Centre, a facility with office and storage space along to efficiently cover the requirements on the contract. Additionally, the conference room facilities at the Service Centre can be utilised by the local authorities.
