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09
Sept
Yorkshire Water faces fine over Nidderdale roadworks which caused ‘massive congestion’
Yorkshire Water could face a fine after overunning roadworks in Glasshouses caused “massive congestion” for nearly two hours.
The company carried out work at a bridge in the village at the same time when North Yorkshire Council’s highways team had closed another bridge in Pateley Bridge on August 15.
The work in Glasshouses, which involved connecting the main water supply to a property, was due to finish on August 14.
But the road closure overran into the next day and led to two nearby bridges over the River Nidd being shut at the same time.
Both roads were shut between 9.15am and 11.09am on August 15. The council said the company had no permit extension for the Glasshouses work on that date.
Cllr Andrew Murday, who represents Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale on North Yorkshire Council, said the move led to “massive congestion” on narrow roads in the area.
In a question to Cllr Malcolm Taylor, executive councillor for highways at the council, Cllr Murday asked what the council's policy was on such closures.
He said:
Clearly this state of affairs is unsatisfactory. I know of other reports of closures that have not been conducted in what might be considered to have reasonable regard to our residents’ needs.
In emergency circumstances there will be unavoidable inconvenience, but the case I have cited above was not an emergency and does not appear to be exceptional.
Malcolm Taylor, executive councillor for highways, and Cllr Andrew Murday.
Cllr Taylor said the congestion happened due to Yorkshire Water failing to follow the process for a permit extension in Glasshouses.
The council’s highways team were unaware of the roadworks overrunning when they implemented a closure in Pateley Bridge, he added.
Cllr Taylor said the authority has raised the matter with Yorkshire Water, which could see the company fined.
He said:
The street works team has already picked the overrun issue up with Yorkshire Water as they did not follow the permit extension process and this could result in a fine. The matter will also be raised with Yorkshire Water senior management at the next regular review meeting.
As you will appreciate there are high demands from utility companies and highways to be on the network to upgrade or maintain their assets but in the main the permitting process does work very well. This situation was caused by a lack of update from Yorkshire Water about their need to be on the network beyond their original permitted dates when plans had already been agreed for another nearby road to be closed.
Please extend my apologies for the impact this issue caused residents and visitors of Pateley Bridge and Glasshouses.
The Stray Ferret understands that Yorkshire Water applied for a permit extension to August 15, but was granted one until August 14 due to the roadworks at the bridge in Pateley Bridge.
A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water told the Stray Ferret that due to difficult ground conditions, the work took longer than anticipated.
They said:
Our contract partners began work on August 11 at the bridge in Glasshouses in order to connect a property to the mains water supply. During the work we ran into unexpectedly difficult ground conditions, which meant the excavation took longer than anticipated.
We worked as quickly as we could in order to meet the permit, however, on this occasion, we needed to remain on site for another day to complete the work, backfill the excavation, and reinstate the road to a safe standard.
We understand that our work, when combined with the closure in Pateley, caused significant disruption to road users and those living and working in the area on the 15 August, and would like to apologise for this.
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