Westminster Report - Leigh-on-Sea

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Leigh On Sea News: Westminster Report – BY The Rt Hon Mark Francois Member of Parliament for Rayleigh and Wickford.

Westminster Report - BY The Rt Hon Mark Francois Member of Parliament for Rayleigh and Wickford.

BY The Rt Hon Mark Francois Member of Parliament for Rayleigh and Wickford.

Roadworks (Regulation) Bill – At the time of writing this “Westminster Report,” I was preparing to reintroduce my Roadworks (Regulation) Bill in the House of Commons, at the start of November. As some of you may recall from my General Election campaign literature just a few months ago, I had previously introduced the Bill into Parliament in the previous session: “In order to combat the growing menace of badly managed and often over-running roadworks”- and I promised that I would: “rapidly seek to re-introduce, [it] if I am re-elected.” Put another way, I am about to keep my word.

I’m pleased to now have the opportunity to fulfil this commitment and address the problems caused by roadworks on our highway network. As we are all too well aware, sometimes it is utility companies carrying out repairs or maintenance, sometimes broadband providers laying new fibre, or property developers connecting up new estates to the power grid. In many cases, however, the common factor is a lack of any palpable sense of urgency to get the job done, regardless of the inconvenience which is caused to the travelling public.

Indeed, given the volume of complaints I now receive about roadworks in Essex – previously described by in another local Newspaper as the “roadworks capital of Britain”- I’ve chosen to focus on this issue once again. I have described this effort as the “Can the Cones” campaign.

The Bill, which I am about to reintroduce, essentially has three key aims to help try and tackle the curse of prolonged and over-running roadworks.

Firstly, it will give local highways authorities much stronger powers to control the granting of permits to anyone who wants to dig up the highway network.

At present, highways authorities can only really refuse to grant a permit on safety grounds and, if those applying for one deem the work to be “an emergency” then the ability of the authority to refuse them is even weaker still. The Bill would thus allow refusal on the grounds of causing unacceptable disruption and would materially strengthen the hand of councils to negotiate much tighter conditions – including stricter deadlines – when granting permits, so that companies would hopefully be prevented from over-running in the first place.

Secondly, the Bill would mandate highway authorities to take all practicable steps to “deconflict” roadworks in their areas, to prevent multiple works in the same neighbourhood leading to near gridlock, especially during peak periods. Under Section 59 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, local authorities are required to coordinate roadworks to minimise disruption to road users.

Alongside this, it states that “local authorities shall use their best endeavours to coordinate the execution of works of all kinds.” Yet, the ‘ground truth’, i.e., what really goes on in practice, rather than just in abstract policy, is that some local authorities are clearly not following these requirements.

As many readers will know, a few years ago, we saw exactly this in Rayleigh when several sets of roadworks on the main arteries in and out of the town, were allowed to proceed at almost exactly the same time.

This Bill would therefore seek to prevent exactly these sorts of scenarios, by trying to ensure a much more ‘joined-up approach’ by imposing much stricter procedures on highways authorities, who give out the permits – and would also seek to prevent the same stretch of road being dug up multiple times, in short succession, by different companies.

Thirdly, the Bill would materially increase the fines for roadworks which overrun. At present, local highways authorities have the power to fine utility companies for “unreasonably prolonged occupation of the highway.” The current Regulations provide for a maximum charge for “traffic sensitive” streets, of £5,000 a day for the first three days of overrun and £10,000 a day thereafter. However, for those streets that fall outside of this tightly defined category, the fines fall away dramatically.

Crucially, these fines have not been updated or adjusted for inflation since 2012. These are hardly likely to be a deterrent to major utility companies or housing developers, some of whom just accept the fines – on the rare occasions they are actually levied – as a cost of doing business.

This Bill would significantly increase the penalties for over-running beyond the schedule agreed when the permit was first granted – and persistent offenders could be fined up to 10% of their annual turnover; which should make even the most tin-earned company sit up and listen.

Alongside having the support of Former Roads Minister, Richard Holden MP, the Can the Cones campaign, also received the backing from the AA, who said that they “Fully support the objectives of the Bill- Excessive and overrunning roadworks cause congestion, more emissions, create driver frustration and have a detrimental cost to both the local and the national economy.”

Realistically, due to a lack of Parliamentary time, my Roadworks (Regulation) Bill is unlikely to make it onto the Statute Book. Nevertheless, I am trying to persuade the new Labour Government and DfT Ministers to adopt some of the ideas it contains, in order to speed up roadworks and increase the fines (including up to 10% of their annual turnover for persistent offenders) for companies that overrun their allocated time to complete the job, thus causing a lot more disruption than is strictly necessary.

I know from the emails I receive and going out canvassing, including at the General Election, that my Rayleigh and Wickford constituents are heartily sick and tired of the amount of roadworks they have had to endure in recent years. So, I will continue to press Ministers for at least some progress on the subject of roadworks, not just locally, but hopefully further afield as well- whilst indeed keeping the promise I made to my constituents at the General Election

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