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19
Sept 2023
North Yorkshire Council urged to fine utility firms over roadworks
Utility firms should be fined for failing to complete planned maintenance on time and for shoddy work to repair roads, councillors have claimed.
A North Yorkshire Council meeting heard senior council officers were examining whether utility firms could be fined from the day their repairs failed to when they were put right amid escalating frustration being expressed by residents and other businesses.
The authority’s Richmond constituency committee was told Yorkshire Water had rejected a request for its senior managers to appear before the committee to explain why its planned works in the Upper Dales market town of Hawes had sparked traffic chaos in May.
The move comes as Northern Gas Network recently pushed back its completion date for roadworks on Harrogate’s Skipton Road.
Three-way lights were in operation close to the junction with Sykes Grove for more than a month to enable Northern Gas Networks to replace metal pipes with plastic pipes.
Richmond councillor Stuart Parsons said firms across the county were seeing utility companies repeatedly disrupting their business by failing to properly repair roads after cable and pipe-laying works and then taking years to rectify poor quality work.
Yorkshire Water had, the committee heard, given assurances it was examining the issue in Hawes and that regular meetings between the council and the water firm were set to take place to prevent a recurrence of the Hawes incident.
Councillors heard a number of actions, such as improving its communications and taking on board local residents’ views, had been agreed by the firm.
The committee’s chair, Cllr Yvonne Peacock, said although she had initially wanted the firm to face questions from elected representatives, Yorkshire Water’s refusal to do so had led to “possibly a better outcome”, as the firm was now working with the council’s officers on a range of schemes.
The Upper Dales councillor added:
Councillors said while most of the utility companies were not acting responsibly, Northumbrian Water had recently set an example by working with the authority to avert unnecessary traffic issues.
Cllr Heather Moorhouse, who represents Great Ayton, added:
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