The County Council, like all Local Authorities, is being asked to achieve efficiency savings each year and Cambridgeshire Highways needs to contribute to these savings which means not everything that the County Council and the public wants doing can be done.

One way we will be able to make savings is to combine small elements of work into a larger package to allow the work to be done more cost effectively. For example bringing together a list of white lining work in an area will avoid the need for multiple visits by the white lining contractor. This may mean that it takes a bit longer for some work to be done in order to reduce our costs.

Nationally, there is a shortage of engineers and technicians with experience in the highways field and both the County Council and Atkins continue to find the recruitment and retention of staff a challenge. This challenge is not expected to become easier over the next few years and pressure on staff resources may increase in light of the scale of development expected in the region and the demands of the Olympic Games construction programme. Establishing a joint training scheme, bringing in new recruits at all levels and utilising our staff skills in the most effective way will all be important elements in managing staff resource pressures.

Meeting the challenges presented by climate change and sustainable development will also need to be a focus for the partnership. Work has started on increasing the use of recycled materials and reducing our carbon footprint.