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07
Nov 2024
New roadworks system could be introduced in North Yorkshire within a year
A new system of charging utilities companies up to £2,500 a day to carry out roadworks could be implemented in North Yorkshire within a year.
Councillor Keane Duncan, North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for highways, wants the county to be the first in northern England to introduce the lane rental scheme, which already operates in London and Kent.
Under the scheme, companies pay up to £2,500 a day for carrying out highways work and can be fined if projects overrun. Any surplus cash generated can be reinvested in highways projects.
It would replace the current permit system, which allows firms to apply for a permit to carry out roadworks and then extend it.
The Stray Ferret previously reported in July on the start of a 12-week council consultation on the idea. You can read our article here.
Now Cllr Duncan has given an update in a report prepared in advance of next week’s full council meeting in Northallerton.
He said:
We are pursuing the toughest possible action under current legislation to control roadworks and mitigate the disruption they so often cause to motorists in North Yorkshire.
The 12-week statutory consultation process is now complete and the details are being collated.
The Department for Transport has given an assurance that any submissions received between now and April 2025 - a deadline we will achieve - will all be considered between May 2025 and July 2025. This means that a lane rental scheme could be running in North Yorkshire sometime between October 2025 and December 2025.”
North Yorkshire is England’s largest county with a network of roads extending to a total of nearly 5,800 miles.
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