Street Works (Hansard, 19 June 2002)

§ Mr. Allan
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what incentives are(a) in place and (b) planned to ensure that local authorities and highway agencies are incentivised to complete street works as efficiently as possible. [62630]

§ Mr. Spellar
A Best Value performance indicator, BV 100, measures delays due to highway maintenance works on traffic sensitive streets. All highway authorities are required to produce this indicator, and it is published annually. The public can readily compare the performances of the various authorities.
No further incentives are planned at present.

§ Mr. Allan
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it his policy that the powers contained in section 74A of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 will not be made available to all local authorities until a full assessment has been made of the pilot schemes when they are completed in May 2004. [62631]

§ Mr. Spellar
Pilot schemes to test the powers under section 74A of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 began in Camden and Middlesbrough on 4 March 2002. Under these schemes the authorities can charge utility companies "lane rental" whenever the latter dig up highways to install or maintain their apparatus.
We appointed consultants (Halerow) to study the effect of these schemes upon disruption caused by utility works and the costs which it imposes on those utilities. Any decision to extend the use of these powers to all local authorities will be based on a proper consideration of Halcrow's findings. We will also want to consult widely with highway authorities, utilities, regulators and other relevant parties before reaching a final decision.

§ Mr. Allan
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many fines have been levied on telecommunication companies under section 74 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 in each year since the introduction of the scheme. [62629]

§ Mr. Spellar
Powers under section 74 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 were activated in April 2001. These allow highway authorities to charge utilities up to £2,000 a day for each of the latter's works which overrun an agreed deadline. We have appointed consultants (Halcrow) to monitor the effectiveness of the new powers and they will be reporting to us later in the summer on the first year of operation of the powers, including details of the charges paid by utilities.