§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list all those authorities and organisations, both public and private, having a statutory right to dig up roads in London in(a) 1980 and (b) the current year.
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§ Mr. AtkinsInformation is not available in the form requested. All highway authorities have statutory rights to carry out roadworks. The main public utilities have statutory rights of long standing to place and maintain their apparatus in the public highway. In addition various organisations have powers under public and private legislation or specific authority under licence to carry out excavation in the highway.
§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what efforts are made to co-ordinate road repairs and road excavation in London; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. AtkinsIndividual highway authorities co-ordinate those roadworks in London for which they are responsible. The Department attaches particular importance to the careful programming and traffic management arrangements of works on its own roads. The Department also encourages highway authorities to promote cooperation between organisations having statutory rights to excavate roads and to co-ordinate these works with their own. The Goverment have proposed, as part of the legislation they intend to bring forward to implement the recommendations of the Horne report, that in future highway authorities will be given a positive duty to co-ordinate all excavations in the highway with a view to minimising the disruption to road users.