Street Works (Utilities)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 10:12 pm on 27 October 2008.

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Photo of Andrew Gwynne Andrew Gwynne PPS (Rt Hon Jacqui Smith, Secretary of State), Home Office 10:12, 27 October 2008

I entirely agree. In the case of Oldham road and Denton town centre, the council approached the utility companies, which said that they had no such works planned for the area. They recently ripped them up. However, I take my hon. Friend's point about Brighton and Hove council, and I am sure that that is common practice throughout the country.

Proper reinstatement will restore the actual area that has been excavated, but I think it is commonly accepted that there is consequential structural damage to adjacent areas. There is also some evidence to suggest that reinstated areas display more surface defects, which in turn will allow further deterioration of the structure of the highway itself. Current legislation does not deal with the damage caused to the integrity of the highway. As things stand, the utility companies continually get away with it. They have to pay only for the part of the road that they dig up, and the council must pay for the rest to rectify the damage. That is very unfair to council tax payers and the community at large. Not only are many of the utility diggers ripping off the community with the excessive charges; they are ripping up our roads, and the community must pay again for a full restoration.

Recent research undertaken by Tameside council has shown that between 20 and 30 per cent. of inspected jobs are found to be defective in regard to health and safety, guarding issues, reinstatements causing danger, and non-adherence to specifications determined by road category. All those defects are monitored by the council's streetworks inspectors, and defects are corrected. Recent core sampling—checks on specifications after expiry of guarantee periods—has also indicated that 30 per cent. of jobs failed inspection, and would require utility organisations to return and rectify the problems. Those works will cause additional disruption to road users. Furthermore, the opening of trenches will have a significant negative public impact on Tameside as an "attractive borough", and will cause disruption and congestion to all users of the network.

The Minister will be interested to know that Tameside council has also calculated how much the work is costing it. Following detailed examination of Tameside's road network and condition, figures have been determined, subject to final verification. It has been calculated that the current gross replacement cost for carriageways and footways is £620 million. Tameside has established through its transport asset management plan that the improvement investment—that is, backlog maintenance—required is in the region of £27 million for carriageways and £10 million for footways, a total of £37 million.

It could be argued that if it is accepted that utility organisations reduce the life of the road by 30 per cent. as a direct result of utility openings, the local tax payer is contributing some £11 million as a direct result of the long-term damage caused to the local highway network by utility openings. That is £11 million diverted from schools, libraries and services for pensioners in my constituency.

It is high time that the utilities footed their fair share of the bill. I do not believe that they pay the real costs of the damage that they cause; in my view, they pay only part of it. However, there are a number of remedies that we could suggest to the Minister.

Utility openings create disruption and are difficult to manage and control, despite legislation and authority efforts to co-ordinate works. They contribute significantly to the expected—reduced—life of the highway and ultimately affect life-cycle plans for planned repairs, creating disproportionate demand on reactive spend levels, which is ultimately borne by the local taxpayer. It is impossible for local authorities to inspect all the openings at each stage and, as I have said, about 30 per cent. of inspections reveal defects and/or issues to be resolved. Recharges, made in line with legislation, allow costs to be recovered, but do not cover disruption or address long-term damage issues, so we need a change in the law.

There are a number of possible remedies, such as full width reinstatements under law. The Secretary of State has powers under section 78 of NRASWA to enable there to be a financial contribution by the utility organisations for the effects of long-term damage. However, this section of the Act has never been enacted. To help alleviate these issues, Tameside council has already tried to persuade companies to undertake full width construction at some locations. Although it has been successful in part, it has no powers to enforce this, and can only use a persuasive approach to achieve the objective. This should now be a legal requirement that makes the utility companies fully reinstate the roads. I believe it is now time for that part of NRASWA to be enacted, making the utility companies pay the full price for their works. I urge the Minister to consider enabling this part of the legislation.

This situation needs to be addressed. It cannot be fair for local people to be so regularly inconvenienced by road works, and for Stockport, Tameside and many other local authorities to have to pay for the structural damage caused by the utility companies. The utility companies made millions of pounds last year and can well afford to put right all the damage they have caused to local roads and highways. The estimated £11 million price tag should not be borne by the local council tax payers as it takes money away from valuable services. We urgently need a change in the law to make utility companies legally responsible for the very real damage they cause to our roads.