Utilities: Road Works

House of Lords written question – answered at on 19 November 2014.

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Photo of Lord Kennedy of Southwark Lord Kennedy of Southwark Labour

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the way in which utility companies work with local authorities to minimise disruption to residents as a result of works they have to undertake.

Photo of Baroness Kramer Baroness Kramer Minister of State (Department for Transport)

The Government has made no specific assessment, although under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, the street authority has a duty to co-ordinate all works on its road network in order to minimise inconvenience to road users, and utilities have a duty to co-operate with them in doing that. Utility companies have statutory powers to carry out works to maintain or install their apparatus in the street to provide the services that we all rely on. The Government works closely with both local highway authorities and utilities to help them deliver those duties effectively.

The Traffic Management Act 2004 also places a ‘Network Management Duty' on authorities to keep traffic moving as far as practical and enables authorities to introduce permit schemes for street works to help them to do that. In 2012, the Government increased the penalties that local authorities can impose where street works by utility companies overrun their agreed duration, up to a maximum charge of £10,000 a day. We are also carrying out a trial of ‘Lane Rental’ on Transport for London and Kent County Council’s networks. This allows authorities to charge utilities to work on the busiest roads at the busiest times. We are currently looking at the impacts of those schemes.

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