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31
Mar
Council to introduce new roadworks system in May
A new road system which will see utility companies charged higher fees to carry out roadworks is set to come into force in North Yorkshire in May.
The lane rental scheme will give North Yorkshire Council the power to charge £2,500 a day to companies to carry out highways work on main roads at peak times.
It will replace the current permit system, which allows firms to apply for a permit to carry out roadworks and then extend it.
The Department for Transport introduced the lane rental scheme to stop roadworks over-running by incentivising utility companies to complete work quickly to avoid extra payments.
An update from Harrogate Town Council said the lane rental system will come into force on May 5.
Cllr Malcolm Taylor, executive councillor for highways, said previously:
Charging for the time roadworks are in place means we can provide incentives to complete the work quickly and outside of peak times.
We hope the lane rental scheme will reduce unnecessary disruption to all road users travelling across our vast road network.
First in the north
Five local authorites currently operate lane rental schemes.
North Yorkshire Council would be the first in northern England. It covers England’s largest county, with a network of roads stretching a total of nearly 5,800 miles.
Only streets regarded as critical to the road network are eligible for the lane rental scheme.
North Yorkshire Council has chosen roads in the Harrogate district where it says imposing the new system will have “the most effect in reducing disruption and the cost of disruption”.
Included in the list are major routes such as Skipton Road, Ripon Road and Wetherby Road in Harrogate and York Road in Knaresborough. You can read the full list of roads here.
Around seven percent of the county’s road network — around 500 miles of road — has been chosen to fall under the scheme.
Fees raised would be used to cover costs of running the scheme, with any surplus invested into measures that reduce disruption on the highways.
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