and it was not uncommon for designers to use MOSS to design the works and for contractors to use BIPS during construction. The BIPS system was used by Cambridgeshire County Council until 1999, including for the pre-contract works of the 16 km A1(M) upgrade between Peterborough and Alconbury. County surveyor Cottell became assistant and deputy county surveyor for East Suffolk and East Sussex and was elected a fellow of the ICE in 1976. He became county surveyor of Northamptonshire in 1979 and of Kent in 1984. In the latter post he had responsibility for a £210 million capital expenditure budget and a staff of 1,000 employees. As county surveyor he opposed an ICE proposal to ban heavy goods vehicles from unclassified roads, calling instead for "lorry management plans" directing goods vehicles to suitable major roads. In recognition of his work Cottell was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 31 December 1987. He was appointed a major in the Engineering and Transport Staff Corps, a volunteer unpaid force providing technical expertise to the British Army, on 1 April 1989. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in that corps on 30 September 1992 and was transferred onto the supernumerary list of officers on 25 July 1996. Other interests Cottell remained heavily involved with the ICE, writing papers for their journals and serving on regional committees for the South Midlands, East Anglia and the South East. Cottell served on the ICE council for five years and was vice-president from 1989 to 1992. He was a director of the ICE's publishing arm, Thomas Telford Ltd, from 1991 to 1992 and the Benevolent Fund of the ICE from 1992 to 1993. Cottell served as president of the ICE from November 1992 to November 1993. Cottell was given chairmanship of a committee investigating the applicability of the Staff College concept to the British Construction industry by the 1994 Latham Report. He was at various times president and secretary of the County Surveyors' Society and Chairman of the Association of Municipal Engineers. Cottell served as a member of the National Economic Development Office and produced a report, entitled A new approach to road planning, for them. Cottell retired in 1991 and lived in Kent with his wife Joan. He continued his involvement with the ICE and also with the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund, the Worshipful Company of Paviors, the Worshipful Company of Engineers