AN INDEPENDENT adjudicator has found that Renfrewshire Council was right to terminate a contract for street lighting repairs after the contractor repeatedly failed to carry out work.

And council chiefs say that new figures showing that repairs targets are being exceeded prove the council has taken the correct approach.

The adjudicator upheld the council’s position on all points.

The contractor, Lightways (Contractors) Ltd, has been ordered to pay to the council the increased costs incurred in completing the works which they failed to provide.

In addition Lightways have been ordered to pay the adjudicator’s fees in full.

The judgement follows a separate independent adjudication in January this year which found that Lightways was over-charging the council for repairs work.

The council terminated Lightways’ contract in February following the company’s failure to carry out maintenance and repairs as instructed.

When the council put emergency measures in place to deal with the repairs backlog, it was cleared within three weeks.

In order to improve the service, the council put in place an in-house team which is now carrying out lighting repairs.

Six former Lightways workers have been taken on by the council to work in the new service.

Councillor Mike Holmes, deputy leader of Renfrewshire Council, said: “We are satisfied with the independent adjudicator’s findings which confirm that the council acted correctly.

“The council took swift action to deal with the contractor’s failings, quickly putting measures in place to protect public safety and deal with the repairs backlog.

“The backlog of repairs was dealt with within three weeks but this resulted in considerable extra costs to council services.

“It is very encouraging to see that while the performance of our service dropped below target during the time that Lightways was our contractor, since we brought the service in-house we are exceeding our target of 95 per cent of repairs dealt with within seven days.

“The council has a responsibility to ensure that its contracts provide the Renfrewshire public with value for public money.

“We therefore had no alternative but to seek recovery of the additional expense incurred due to Lightways’ failure to abide by its contract.”