The government has announced a crackdown on disruptive roadworks which could cut traffic for millions of drivers and generate up to £100 million extra to resurface roads as the first key measures from the Plan for Drivers.
Roads Minister, Guy Opperman, has launched a street works consultation on a series of measures to prevent utility companies from letting roadworks overrun and clogging up traffic as a result. The consultation seeks to extend the current £10,000 per day fine for overrunning street works into weekends and bank holidays as a deterrent for working on the busiest days for road travel. Currently, utility companies are only fined for disruption on working days.
The measures could also double fines from £500 up to a maximum of £1,000 for companies that breach conditions of the job, such as working without a permit.
The plans would also direct at least 50% of money from lane rental schemes to be used to improve roads and repair potholes. Lane rental schemes allow local highway authorities to charge companies for the time that street and road works occupy the road.
As a result, the measures could generate up to £100 million extra over 10 years to resurface roads while helping tackle congestion, cutting down journey times and helping drivers get from A to B more easily.
The consultation is part of a series of measures from the government’s Plan for Drivers, a 30-point plan to support people’s freedoms to use their cars, curb over-zealous enforcement measures and back drivers.
Richard Fuller MP said:
As part of our plan for drivers, we have launched a crackdown on disruptive roadworks and a street works consultation on a series of measures to prevent utility companies from letting roadworks overrun and clogging up traffic as a result.
While it’s essential that gas, water and other utility companies carry out vital maintenance work to provide the services we all rely on, the 2 million street works carried out in England in 2022 to 2023 have cost the economy around £4 billion by causing severe road congestion and disrupting journeys.
The consultation comes after this government introduced a performance-based street works regime to ensure utility companies resurface roads to the best possible standard, and new lane rental schemes where utility companies can be charged up to £2,500 per day for street works. The measures can also help boost active travel by preventing street works from disrupting walking, wheeling and cycling while also providing opportunities to improve pavements and pedestrian crossings and make repairs to pavements and cycle lanes.
In addition, the government plans to make all temporary, experimental or permanent restrictions on traffic digital. These so-called traffic regulation orders (TROs) include things like the location of parking spaces, road closures and speed limits. Making these digital means they must now be added to satnav systems, ensuring drivers have the most up-to-date information, making journeys easier and paving the way for more reliable self-driving vehicles.
The measures follow the biggest ever funding uplift for local road improvements, with £8.3 billion of redirected High Speed 2 (HS2) funding – enough to resurface over 5,000 miles of roads across England – as the government continues to be on the side of drivers and improve journeys for more people, in more places, more quickly.
To take part in the consultation, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/street-works-fines-and-lane-rental-surplus-funds
