The new term contract starts from 1 October 2025 and is expected to be worth £385m over the initial term.

There is also the potential to be extended for a further two periods of seven years to 21 years in total, according to the original tender documents.

Ringway will focus on improving the operational delivery of day-to-day services such as road maintenance, fixing potholes, street lighting and signal repairs, responding to emergencies and seasonal gritting, grass cutting and improvement schemes.

The contractor’s bid focussed on innovative and sustainable projects such as ambitious apprenticeship programmes and building a strong local supply chain.

Recognising previous trials such as the pothole preventing robot and electric gritter, the partnership will go further towards our plans for carbon neutral operations by 2030 and leading the way in technological innovation.

Cllr Phil Bibby, executive member for Highways and Transport at Hertfordshire County Council said: “While we had three excellent bids, Ringway’s vision for an innovative, data driven service, focused on efficient and effective operational delivery for our residents, sealed the deal.

“The commitments they made in relation to trialing new fuels, introducing more electric vehicles to their fleets and using recyclable materials where possible will go a long way to supporting us in our cleaner, greener, and healthier ambitions.”

Mitesh Solanki, Managing Director of Ringway said: “Credit goes to the efforts of those who put together the bid with support from many parts of our wider group – they challenged us to evolve a sustainable and innovative 21-year vision for the highway service for Hertfordshire and we’re pleased to have been awarded an initial core seven–year contract with the prospect of an increased term beyond.”