A SECRET briefing on the controversial Highways PFI project was abandoned — after Isle of Wight Councillors refused to sign a gagging order.

Senior councillors, including cabinet and scrutiny committee members, were due to receive a confidential briefing at County Hall yesterday (Tuesday). It was an opportunity to quiz Island Roads bosses on milestones they had missed and financial penalties that had been imposed.

However, it was cancelled after all but two scrutiny committee councillors refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Lib Dem Cllr Andrew Garratt and Island Independent Cllr Debbie Andre were the only ones who agreed to sign it.

Instead, a more general briefing on the contract was given.

Long-standing critic of the Highways PFI project, Cllr Geoff Brodie, had called on councillors to protest the secret meeting.

He asked councillors how they could, in all conscience, sign a non-disclosure agreement, effectively keeping Island residents in the dark.

In the general briefing, Cllr Brodie said Island Roads, the contractor responsible for delivering the 25-year contract, had refused to answer questions about its performance during the seven-year core investment period — including whether it had failed to reach certain milestones, and whether financial penalties were imposed as a result.

Island Roads said 523km of the 818km road network will have been upgraded to 'an agreed average standard' by April, the end of the core investment period.

An Island Roads spokesperson said: "While there is still more work to do, the progress so far in transforming the network from one of the worst in the country to one of the best has already been recognised, and without the PFI funding and contract this would not have been possible."