Under regulations currently being drafted at DfT, local authorities will be given power to make those who dig up the roads to pay a daily charge for each lane occupied during busy traffic periods.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson aims to introduce the new regime to London in spring 2012. This scheme would be targeted on the capital’s busiest roads at peak times, to incentivise utilities and other companies to carry out roadworks during less busy periods.
Consultation on the new regulations and TfL's proposals for a lane rental scheme will take place over the summer .
If approved, regulations would be in place by the end of the year, allowing the Mayor to apply to have the country's first lane rental scheme up and running in London in the first half of 2012.
Mr Johnson 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. But this is not about penalising utility companies. We want to help them work as efficiently as they can, which is why we will pay for the research of new technology so that they are able to carry out work as swiftly and with as little disruption as possible." (Click here for news story on that research project.)
By some calculations, road works account for 38% of the capital’s traffic delay and can cost London’s economy almost £1bn a year.
In April 2009 the Mayor agreed a voluntary code of conduct for roadworks with the five largest utility companies (BT Openreach, Thames Water, EDF Energy, Virgin Media, National Grid). Within six months, the number of roadworks taking place only outside of peak hours on the TfL road network had more than doubled
Southern Gas joined the scheme in February 2010. The six utility companies, together with TfL highway works, account for 94% of all works carried across London.
In June 2010 the National Joint Utilities Group adopted the Mayor’s code of conduct as a template for a national code. TfL is working to sign all 33 London boroughs up to the code by 2012.
TfL and 18 of London’s 33 boroughs already operate a roadwork permitting scheme. Between April 2010 and March 2011, TfL granted around 48,000 permits and refused around 9,700 for various reasons. A further nine London boroughs have now agreed to introduce a permitting scheme,to give total coverage of around 80% of all roads in the capital.
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