New rules aim to put brakes on roadwork disruption

The new permit will also hand council leaders far greater power to control roadworks on their highways and help improve journey times in their area.

Currently utility companies simply need to apply for the right to carry out roadworks via an electronic system. With councils often receiving upwards of 100 applications every day, it is difficult to monitor every single request.

Under the new system councils will create teams set up to monitor these applications more effectively. These teams will also be able to dictate where the work will take place, what traffic management they will introduce to ease the congestion, what time of day the work will be carried out and most importantly set deadlines for completion.

It is hoped that the scheme will go some way to reducing congestion on the Yorkshire road system already struggling with lack of investment and capacity, something causing increased costs to one in four small businesses in the region.

Trails of the process which took place in Kent and some London boroughs have proved successful and are to now be rolled out in Yorkshire, creating new jobs for many councils.

The cost of hiring new staff will be met from the levy imposed on utility companies and the operations will be run on a not-for-profit basis. Although the exact fee per application has yet to be determined it is understood to be roughly £100 per permit.

It is hoped that the same set of rules will be introduced with councils across the whole Yorkshire region, known as the Common Permit Scheme, in order to minimise any disruption when roadworks cross over local authority boundaries.

So far six councils – Doncaster, Barnsley, Kirklees, Rotherham, Leeds and Sheffield – have signed up to the Common Permit Scheme, having conducted consultation exercises.

Each council must apply to the Secretary of State for Transport in order to be granted the new powers, an application process many councils in Yorkshire are already involved in.

Sheffield Council’s highways committee has recently given approval for officers to apply for the Common Permit Scheme.

A council spokesman said: “If approved, the setting up will be done later in this financial year and the income will start to come in during 2012/13. This will be in time for the Highways PFI contract and should make it easier for the successful bidder to plan the major works on the city’s highways to cause the least possible disruption to motorists.”

Barnsley Council is also set to apply for the powers from Department for Transport.

David Pownall, head of network management at Barnsley Council’s highways department, said: “We cannot say no to work, that is their statutory right. But this will give us far greater control and a better ability to manage and minimise any local disruption, perhaps by saying work must be done outside of peak hours.

“It will not cover every single route but will apply to the major ones. It is not just arterial routes we want to control but also traffic sensitive areas that can cause traffic problems in busy areas.”

Councils set to debate changes

Doncaster, Leeds and Kirkless councils will discuss the matter at cabinet level in the next few days. A report due to put in front of Kirkless cabinet councillors estimated that the new powers would create three new roles and see 25 per cent of the area’s roads subject to permit applications.

Utility companies are understood to be begrudgingly receptive of the new permit requirements. A spokesman for Yorkshire Water said: “We work very closely with local authorities and other utility companies around any work that we’re looking to embark on so any move which to help ensure that such communications and relationships remain effective and efficient is always something that we would welcome.”