Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

The £150m contract is still causing problems for residents.

Wiltshire Council has set up a special task group to look into Balfour Beatty Living Places (BBLP.

The highway maintenance contract will be analysed by a scrutiny committee, amid ongoing complaints over the standard of 'service' provided.

BBLP announced last month it had lost £1 million since taking on the work, and was making redundancies from its highways team.

Wiltshire Council rejected calls by Independent councillors for an internal investigation into the contract in July, claiming that so-called 'teething problems' were a result of unexpected weather, and because staff who moved from English Landscapes, the previous highways contractor, needed additional training.

However, it has now been agreed that the scrutiny committee should look into its performance.

If the Conservative administratiion had listened to the Independent councillors four months ago, the review would have been completed by now rather than just getting underway.