Kent is the latest council to launch a highways apprenticeship scheme for the first time, amid claims it is in ‘free-fall’ following the departure of a number of senior officers.

Addressing a ‘specific’ skills shortage accentuated by a recent glut of retirements, Kent Highways Services is looking for eight new apprentices to train in highway inspector, community liaison and roadwork co-ordinator roles.

The scheme will also involve its private partners, Jacobs and Ringway, where further positions may be available.

The first apprenticeships are scheduled to start in December, and will last for 12 months, before continuing on a permanent basis.

Amanda Edwards, personnel adviser at Kent, said around 60 people had come to open days last week, and she had received 12 applications already.

She also said some senior officers had agreed to delay their retirement for a year, in order to mentor the apprentices on a part-time basis.

‘We are looking at creating a career pathway,’ Edwards added. ‘All apprentices will get priority for any vacancies.’ Yet opposition councillors claimed several recent departures pointed to problems within the environment and regeneration directorate.

At a cross-party scrutiny committee meeting, Liberal Democrat group leader, Trudy Dean, was quoted as saying she had grave concerns about highway services, and warned it could take six months to fill the vacancies.

She said any organisation losing so many senior officers would be described as in free-fall. Labour group leader, Mike Eddy, added: ‘If not having someone in a position won’t affect services, especially if that position is highly paid, then we have got to ask why the job exists at all.’

But Kent County Council chief executive, Peter Gilroy, said recent resignations – ‘for personal reasons’ – had provided an opportunity to look at the structure of the directorate and its responsibilities, ‘so we are filling three senior management posts, including the managing director, on an interim basis’.

He added that Geoff Mee, director of Kent Highway Services, was being seconded on a full-time basis to undertake a major review of the county’s transportation strategy, ‘so his post is also being filled temporarily’.