Agenda item

Cabinet considered the information provided regarding the quality of utility works on the public highway following a Notice of Motion agreed by Council on 14 February 2019 as set out in the report to Cabinet. The Cabinet Member for Highways explained that one of his main tasks was dealing with congestion and this was often caused by road works for which many motorists erroneously blame the Council. In fact utility companies were responsible for carrying out roadworks and minimising their impact while the Council co-ordinated the works through its permit scheme.

Around 300 applications for roadworks were received each day and the resources were available to inspect around 10% of them. Contractors were checked to ensure that the work was up to standard and they were completed within the given timescales. Utility companies were held to account and they were responsible for rectifying any problems. Fines could be imposed but these were often meaningless.  Around 30% of roadworks were classed as emergency and did not require the usual period of notice

In the past year, 15% of roadworks had been inspected rather than 10% and meetings had been held with utility companies which had led to improvements, unfortunately they had only lasted for the short term. If urgent or dangerous issues were not resolved by utility companies within two hours then the Council would sort problems and re-charge the utility company.

In future a system of lane rentals would be introduced which would introduce a daily fee for road space occupation; that would be more expensive for utilities in rush hours and therefore provide greater income, a quicker conclusion and reduce congestion.

Various comments were made during the discussion:

·  It was believed that the Council suffered reputational damage from roadworks as members of the public believed the Council was responsible for all roadworks. Individual Councillors were also blamed but in reality there was very little they could do about problem roadworks

·  Contractors should display signage stating who was carrying out each set of roadworks in a format which was readable to motorists. It was also necessary that utility companies answered calls to telephone numbers put on the signs

·  It was pointed out that it was very annoying to motorists to come across speed restrictions, traffic lights or road closures when no work was on-going

·  Cabinet felt that developers should ensure that the contractors they used were doing things correctly. Developers should ensure that all roadworks were sorted before they began building, even if this meant a change to the legislation was required

·  The 27% increase in income from fines to utility companies was welcomed by a member from outside the Cabinet

·  It was pointed out that some contractors asked for permits for unreasonable lengths of time to ensure that they did not get fined if the works took longer than anticipated. It was suggested that the Council should have the power to estimate the length of time for works and penalise contractors or developers if they asked for unreasonable length of time for roadworks

·  Tighter control of licensing utilities would be welcomed

·  The definition of emergency works needed to be published and enforced and the usage of emergency permits more tightly controlled

·  The Leader was pleased that the Council could step in where dangerous situations occur out of hours and re-charge the utility companies.

The Cabinet Member for Highways stated that roadworks affected everyone. He confirmed that there was a requirement for all roadworks to have signs with a contact telephone number on them and utility companies would be fined £80 if signage was not there. The Cabinet Member thanked colleagues for their comments and urged them to report any problems to the Highways Liaison Engineers.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

(a)    noted the information in the report in response to the Notice of Motion submitted to Council on 14 February 2019; and

(b)    endorsed the approach to holding those undertaking utility works on the highway to financial account and scrutiny.