Enterprise will provide routine maintenance, winter services, emergency and out-of-hours response, as well as streetlighting maintenance and highways surface treatment work over the next five years under the framework, which carries an option to extend to 10 years.

The contract, which is due to start in September, also includes a range of highways improvement schemes.

Kent, which has one of the largest and busiest road networks in the country with over 5,000 miles of roads is a prized framework and attracted bids from Atkins, Balfour Beatty, Colas, and May Gurney.

Kent County Council Cabinet Member for Environment, Highways and Waste, Bryan Sweetland, said, “We believe it is possible to provide an excellent service through challenging economic times and we have chosen a supply chain partner which sees this challenge as an opportunity to improve services for residents.”

Alan Peterson, Executive Chairman of Enterprise, said: “This latest award will boost our presence in the highways sector. We are looking forward to working with an authority which is at the vanguard of service delivery.”