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06
Jan
Revealed: How much companies pay to carry out roadworks in Harrogate district
The new year has seen roadworks return to the Harrogate district.
The Stray Ferret reported yesterday (January 5) that a section of Otley Road had closed for six weeks to facilitate work by Northern Powergrid.
Companies pay North Yorkshire Council for permits to carry out roadworks. The sum varies according to factors such as location, duration, and the potential traffic impact.
The Stray Ferret submitted a freedom of information request to the council to find out how much income it had received from roadwork permits in each of the last five years — and which organisations pay the most.
It provided the following figures for the period from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2025.
1st October 2020 – 30th September 2021 £204,005
1st October 2021 – 30th September 2022 £273,025
1st October 2022 – 30th September 2023 £210,721
1st October 2023 – 30th September 2024 £112,039
1st October 2024 – 30th September 2025 £127,332
The total paid over the five years is £927,122.
A CityFibre worker
Who pays most?
We also asked which three companies paid the most. The top three were:
1 CityFibre and Opal £260,666
2 Yorkshire Water £197,664
3 Northern Gas Networks £150,031
CityFibre and Opal have worked together on the rollout of full fibre broadband in the area.
Under the current system, firms apply to the council for a permit to carry out roadworks and then extend it if necessary.
We reported last year that Harrogate Spring Water paid just £600 for a permit to carry out a series of roadworks as part of plans to install a pipeline from a new borehole in Killinghall to its headquarters on Harlow Moor Road in Harrogate.
Last year the council applied to the government to switch from the permit system to a lane rental scheme to manage roadworks.
The lane rental scheme would entitle the council to charge companies up to £2,500 per day to carry out roadworks plus additional fees for overrunning.
Councillor Keane Duncan, the former Tory highways chief, said the lane rental scheme would enable the council to implement the “toughest possible action under current legislation to control roadworks and mitigate the disruption they so often cause to motorists”. However, it has yet to be introduced.
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