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29
Sept
Utility firms set to pay more for roadworks under council proposals
Utility companies will have to pay more to dig up the roads if proposals from North Yorkshire Council to increase the fees they pay go ahead.
The authority also wants to take on nine more staff members to help administer and coordinate roadworks more effectively. Their salaries would be covered entirely by the fee increase.
Currently, utility companies and highway authorities must obtain permission before carrying out roadworks, and permits cost between £22 and £200, depending on the kind of work and the type of road.
According to a report published ahead of a council meeting last Friday (September 26), the average permit cost over recent years has been £42, and North Yorkshire Council wants to increase this amount to bring it into line with the industry norm of £50-70.
The permit scheme also offers a discount of 50% to incentivise collaborative working, and the council wants to lower this to 30%, in line with all the other schemes in Yorkshire and the North West.
The current fee levels have seen the permit system lose money in each of the last two years, and in its report the council warns:
Further delay in resourcing the permit scheme may result in declining performance and compliance.
It calculates that the proposed fee changes would potentially generate an extra £330,000, making the scheme cost-neutral.
Roadworks have become a familiar sight across the district.
Lane rental system
The proposals are being made in addition to plans to introduce a lane rental system. This would enable the council to charge utility firms up to £2,500 a day for working on roads at peak times and in busy strategic locations. The aim of the system is to incentivise firms to finish jobs quickly, reducing disruption.
In recent years, the volume of permit applications has increased, so North Yorkshire Council wants to take on extra staff to help run both the permit scheme and the lane rental system. It envisages five new posts for the permit scheme and four new roles for the lane rental system.
It says the additional employees would lead to better coordination of works, improve permit processing times, and enhance compliance inspections.
Cost neutral
The cost of employing the new permit scheme staff – estimated at £271,163 – would be paid from the increase in fees and the reduction in discounts, while the cost of the lane rental staff, an estimated £238,268, would be covered by income from the scheme. Any surplus would be added to the council budget.
However, little of consequence looks likely to happen in the short term. Any permit scheme changes are subject to a four-week consultation with utility companies and the council’s own highways department, and the introduction of the lane rental system has been delayed by the Department for Transport due to “internal workload pressures”, with no revised date for approval of the scheme yet announced.
But once the changes come into effect, the council says they will position it to “proactively manage future pressures, including the rollout of 6G and infrastructure upgrades for EV charging and hydrogen gas”.
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