The Director of Highways role at Warwickshire County Council brings together our Engineering Design Services and County Highways functions.

About Engineering Design Services

Engineering Design Services is Warwickshire County Council’s civil engineering service.  Our purpose is to supply advice, design capability, contract preparation and site supervision in the fields of highways, traffic control and information systems, bridge maintenance, and bridge and structural design.

We are a key contributor to the County Council’s role as Highway Authority, and we are responsible for the Council’s bridge stock and traffic control and information systems equipment.  Our service is largely cost neutral, and our Business and Capital Programme team and Project and Programme Management team provide financial, quality, communications, administration, and project management support to the service.  We run an accredited Quality Management System under ISO 9001.  Our workload originates from services within the Communities and Resources Directorates, from developers, from our neighbouring partner Authorities, and from external clients.  In turn, we engage the expertise of colleagues both within the Council and external specialist consultancies.

The Engineering Design Services team is comprised of over 100 members of staff, a mixture of both County Council employees and seconded consultants through our Professional Services Contract.  We actively support staff development and run an Institution of Civil Engineers accredited graduate training programme.

Engineering Design Services at Warwickshire County Council has a net revenue budget of circa £1.5m per annum, alongside capital expenditure of circa £20m per year.  Notable major projects completed in the last 12 months include:

  •   Green Man crossroads signalisation, Coleshill

  •   Binton Bridge historic bridge maintenance repair, Rugby

  •   Cock Robin roundabout improvements relating to new development site, Rugby

  •   Birmingham Road ghost island right-turn lane at new development site, Warwick

  •   Knights Lane construction of new footway to connect new development site to local amenities, Stratford upon Avon

  •   Coventry Road introduction of new pedestrian and cycling facilities, Warwick

  •   Bermuda connection / refurbishment of bridge and new highway infrastructure to provide improved connectivity in Nuneaton.

Warwickshire also won the CIHT (Chartered Institute of Highways & Transportation) West Midlands Branch Award for Best Small Project of the Year 2024 in recognition of our casualty reduction scheme at the Temple Hill roundabout in Wolvey, North Warwickshire.

For further information about major schemes currently in progress, please visit: Major transport construction projects– Warwickshire County Council.

Head of Engineering Design Services

Nicola van der Hoven

About County Highways

County Highways is responsible for the management and maintenance of Warwickshire’s highway which includes, amongst other assets, 3,900km of the carriageway, 2,800km of footway, 50,000 streetlights and 100,000 drainage gullies.

We plan and deliver reactive and routine maintenance works such as emergency pothole repairs, verge maintenance, gully emptying and winter gritting, as well as planned highway works, such as resurfacing.  We do this to ensure that our roads and other assets are safe to use, and to support Warwickshire’s residents and businesses.

We also deliver schemes funded by member delegated budgets through our Minor Works team.  The team also process Traffic Regulation Orders for regulatory signs on the public highway, and lead on the design and approval of traffic signs.

We manage all roadworks in Warwickshire through the Network Management team, who ensure that all roadworks are managed effectively to make sure that our network stays open and has minimal delays.  The Network Management team encompasses our Public Rights of Way and Highway Searches teams.

​​​​​The County Highways service includes our Forestry team who inspect and maintain over 100,000 existing trees on County Council property, including on the public highway and at Council maintained schools.  The team also carry out work for third parties, which includes some District and Borough Councils, and manage the County Council’s tree nursery.

We employ over 120 staff (FTE) and have a net revenue budget of circa £17m per annum, alongside a capital spend of £17.5m per year.

Head of County Highways

Shail Chohan

CONTACT US

For a confidential discussion about these roles, please contact the following consultants at our recruitment partner, Tile Hill, who will be happy to answer any questions that are not covered here: