Warwickshire County Council is considering privatising its road gritting fleet when a new contract kicks in next year. 

The idea forms part of the procurement process for a new highways maintenance contract that starts in May 2026.

It will cover all planned and reactive work, winter gritting, weather-related repairs, streetlighting, potholes, minor construction work and small-scale projects but not major infrastructure plans. 

The terms of the deal, which is currently contracted to Balfour Beatty, were last refreshed in 2016.

Added objectives for the new contract include better use of artificial intelligence (AI), improved delivery of schemes funded by grants allocated by councillors and quicker billing so the council can track costs. 

Another element is to look at whether it would be better to get the contractor to provide the fleet for winter gritting. 

According to Warwickshire County Council's website, it grits almost half of the county's roads when ice is predicted, including A and B roads, accesses to hospitals and industrial estates in urban areas and accesses to villages that are served by one route only.

Much publicised budget constraints have seen the authority seek £250,000 of savings each year on road gritting from 2026-27 through "more efficient delivery of services" and the construction of salt barns. Further plans to cut gritting, limiting it to A and B roads only from 2028-29, were shelved last year. 

Cabinet member Cllr Margaret Bell was keen to ensure any fleet changes would not affect services. 

She asked: "I know you are going to look at whether it is cost-effective but what is the thinking behind the possibility of the gritting fleet moving over to the contractor?

"If it does move over, do we still have control? This is something that is close to the hearts of residents. We always get requests to do more than we have the budget for, as you will know, so we have to make sure we still have hands on the wheel if it does go across."

Portfolio holder for transport and planning Cllr Jan Matecki offered reassurance. 

"We have spoken to other counties about how they do things," he replied. 

"At the moment we have to purchase the fleet, maintain it, and quite often it will be sitting there doing nothing for a lot of the time.

"If the contractor does it, that might be financially prudent. They might have bigger buying power if they have other areas to serve and they may be able to utilise those vehicles for other things throughout the year rather than sitting there waiting for the gritting.

"That is something to look at. We will look at the figures and if it doesn't work for us then we won't do it. Either way, we will still be in full control of the routes they need to take and frequency."