The deals are worth a total of £113m over nine years and and are designed to deliver around £33m of savings for the council.

The contracts will give Amey responsibility for improving and maintaining Liverpool’s highways infrastructure – including nearly 2,000 km of roads, 44,000 street lights and 516 structures – as well as winter maintenance and highways improvement work.

Mel Ewell, Chief Executive for Amey, said: “ Liverpool is one of the UK’s most distinctive cities and our vision for the service is to deliver a best value and innovative approach to improving the reliability of the road network and the cleanliness of the streets.”

Councillor Tim Moore, cabinet member for climate change and transport, said: “Keeping our streets clean and well maintained is a major priority, but cuts in funding from central Government mean it is more important than ever that we squeeze as much value as possible from our contracts.

“The millions of pounds we are saving each year will enable us to protect other vital services and shield the most vulnerable as much as we possibly can.

“We are convinced Amey will deliver top quality services, and have been particularly impressed with their commitment to developing employment opportunities for local people.”

Amey has pledged to take on 140 apprentices over the life of the contract and plans to spend 90% of its budget locally.