Tougher penalties for
road works disruption - Under embargo until 0001 Monday 01 March 2010
Irresponsible
firms who allow their road works to overrun will face penalties of
up to £25,000 a day - a tenfold increase on the current £2,500
maximum daily charge - under plans published today by Transport
Minister Sadiq Khan.
The Government also set out proposals for a tougher inspection
regime giving local councils more powers to charge utility
companies for inspecting road works in their streets.
Sadiq Khan said:
"These new measures show just how serious the Government
is about tackling problem road works which cost our economy £4.2
billion each year.
"There is no excuse for those companies who allow their
works to drag on for longer than they should, causing
inconvenience and frustration for the travelling public. The new
charges and tougher inspection regime will provide a strong
incentive for utilities to finish works on time or pay for the
disruption they cause.”
The proposals are intended to provide utility companies with a
strong incentive to finish works on time. Utility firms will not
be permitted to pass the cost of these charges on to their customers.
The new inspection regime will mean that utility firms that
consistently fail to keep their sites safe, or fail to replace the
road surface properly, could be required to pay for additional
inspections by local councils.
Today's announcement forms part of the Department for
Transport's street works action plan published in
December 2009. The action plan aims to reduce the disruption
caused by street works and today's consultations will be
followed shortly by announcements on improving safety at road
works sites by updating an existing Safety Code of Practice.
The consultations on increasing overrun charges and the new
inspections regime can be found here: www.dft.gov.uk/consultations.
Notes to Editors
Today’s announcements deliver two key commitments made in the
Department for Transport’s Street Works Action Plan, published in
December 2009.
Street works overrun charges can be levied by councils where
works continue for longer than the period originally notified by
the utility company or other undertaker responsible for the works.
The maximum daily overrun charges are set out in Regulations.
The proposed increases in maximum charges would apply specifically
to the busiest “traffic-sensitive” streets, which is where the
disruption caused by street works is most costly. Streets can be
designated as 'traffic-sensitive' by the local
authority where one or more of a published set of criteria are
met.
Money raised from overrun charges is retained by the highway
authority. Any surplus income, after administration costs, must be
spent on improving local transport.
Councils can already charge for carrying out certain
inspections, including inspections of site safety
('Category A' inspections) and the quality of
reinstatement of the highway ('Category B' and
'Category C' inspections) at a randomly-selected
sample of works sites.
Under the new proposals, a street works undertaker who fails to
meet the required standard in more than 10% of inspections in one
or more of Categories A to C within the area of a particular
street authority could be subject to a more intensive performance
monitoring regime.
Under such a regime, the authority could charge for extra
inspections in the Category or Categories where the undertaker had
failed to meet the required standard. The performance monitoring
period would initially be 12 weeks, but could be extended for
further 4-week periods until the undertaker achieves a 90%
pass-rate over the most recent 12 weeks of monitoring.
The proposals on overrun charges and inspections would apply
throughout England (including London).
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