Council wants to pioneer pay as you dig

A west London council says it can keep utility companies on the straight and narrow if the government lets it lead a new road works scheme dubbed ‘pay as you dig’.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council  says it wants to be the first council to run a test pilot scheme where utilities are charged a daily rent for each road lane it uses to carry out repairs and are charged more for working during peak times, like the rush hour – if the scheme gets the thumbs up.

It comes as the Department for Transport launches a 12-week consultation with residents, transport groups and local authorities on the proposals to change the way utilities work in England. The aim is to make companies who dig up the roads more accountable for their actions, speeding up the length of time it takes to carry out works and freeing up the capital’s heavily congested roads.

The ‘pay as you dig’ scheme would give local authorities the power to make electricity, gas, telecommunications and water companies pay the council up-front and imposes a lane charge for every day that they work. It would also make it more difficult for companies to dig up the road at peak times and instead would be told to stick to weekend and overnight works. Companies working during the busiest times would find themselves having to pay up to £2,500 for every hour they work.

The moves have been welcomed by Cllr Nick Botterill, cabinet member for envrionment at H&F Council – an authority that is vocal in calling for tougher penalties and cash-based incentives to stop utilities digging up roads whenever they want.

Cllr Botterill believes H&F is the obvious choice to test the new rental scheme, having already been at the forefront of developments to improve roads and congestion in the capital for many years, including creating and developing the successful London Permit Scheme with Transport for London. Cutting the number of road works in the borough and making them finish faster has also been integral to the council’s current transport campaign ‘Get H&F Moving’.

He said:

“We are giving these proposals our full backing and want to be the first London council to put this theory into practice. We have been talking to the government about how we can make this pioneering scheme work, as we have already done with the London Permit Scheme, which has helped cut congestion in the borough.

“We have been calling for stricter conditions and incentives to make utility companies do their job properly and quickly with as little disruption as possible to our resdients, businesses, road users and pedestrians for many years – and finally, we’re being listened to.

“Utilities have been ignoring the needs of real people for far too long, and it is about time they were made accountable for their actions and gave something back to the communities effected by their all-too-often long and overrunning works. I am sure that hitting the companies where it hurts – in the pocket – will make them think twice about digging up roads wherever they want, whenever they want, and taking so long to finish."

H&F Council has already set up a special scrutiny task group of councillors to look into how the scheme could be developed in the borough.

In a speech transport secretary, Philip Hammond, said disruption caused by utility companies was ‘expensive’:

"Everyone knows how frustrating it can be when you are sat in a traffic jam, unable to get to work or drop off the children at school because someone is digging up the road,” he said.

“This disruption is expensive as well as inconvenient, with one estimate valuing the loss to the economy from road works congestion at £4bn a year. We simply cannot afford this.”

If the lane rental scheme goes ahead, councils would have to use any revenue raised from charges to fund measures that could help reduce future road works disruption.

TfL and 27 of London’s 33 boroughs already operate a roadwork permitting scheme, covering a total of around 80% of all roads in the capital. Between April 2010 and March 2011, TfL granted around 48,000 permits and refused around 9,700 for various reasons. Hammersmith & Fulham also receives thousands of requests to carry out road works each year.

The government has said that initially, it will only consider implementing the system in only one urban area and one non-metropolitan area, and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has already said he wants to bring the new road works regime to London by spring next year. He said: "Every company working on our roads wants to do so in the most cost effective way possible and lane rental will give them the clearest incentive to do so.”

The consultation runs until October 31 this year and the findings will be reported in early spring next year. Visit the DfT website for more information on the consultation and scheme (opens new window). To have your say on this and other transport issues in the borough visit: www.lbhf.gov.uk/getmoving.

Comments

[Barry]

"Everyone knows how frustrating it can be when you are sat in a traffic jam, unable to get to work or drop off the children at school because someone is digging up the road,” he said.
Even worse the hole has been dug and there is no workmanlike activity attending the hole. Just a parking place for surplus cones.