The quality of work being carried out by Rutland's new highways contractor is already being questioned by residents according to a serving councillor. 

Speaking at the audit meeting last week Cllr Kevin Corby (Ind), who represents the Ryhall and Casterton ward, said he had become aware of concerns over the standard of work.  

Nottingham based Thomas Bow was awarded a 10-year contract worth £74m in June, after the authority ditched previous contractor Tarmac. The authority has said the contractor has 'excellent' performance since it took up the contract. 

Cllr Corby asked internal auditor Rachel Ashley-Caunt what her team would be looking at when they carry out an audit into the contract next year. 

He said: "Can you give us an indication of what you will be looking for within that audit? 

"The reason I ask the question is we know a new contractor has started and already within my ward there are already questions about the quality of work. 

"Within the audit, will you be looking at feedback about quality of work and how it is enforced? 

"We need the work to be done correctly and if it is not done correctly, well, we need to do go back and do it again." 

The auditor said she had wanted to give the new contractor time to settle in, but wanted to do the audit fairly quickly to see what framework is in place. 

She said: "We wanted to look at how the contract is being managed, so it will include that quality element in terms of what inspections take place, how we follow up works and how make sure we only paying for works that have been completed." 

She said a number of lessons had been learned from audits of the previous contractor and she had been having discussions with the director in charge of the service. 

After the meeting, a council spokesperson said: "Thomas Bow Ltd is subject to all of the contractual controls within our term maintenance contract. Performance is monitored daily by our highways team, as well as by our operational and senior boards. 

"Thomas Bow's key performance indicators show excellent performance by the contractor. This is supported by recent reporting which highlighted that the condition of Rutland's A roads has increased and is now at 77%. In addition, 100% of all highway defects assessed as being an immediate hazard or needing urgent attention have been repaired within seven days."