Council calls for higher fines for rogue roadworks

Hertfordshire County Council have written to the Department for Transport to raise serious concerns about how utility companies carrying out work on our roads are able to get away with poorly planned, poorly managed and poorly finished roadworks.

The majority of roadworks on Hertfordshire’s highways network are carried out to high standards by utility companies, but the unnecessary disruption which poor quality and overrunning work leads to is causing daily problems for our residents and businesses.

With over 60,000 sets of roadworks on our roads each year, most of which are carried out by utility companies, it’s important for us to be able to manage roadworks effectively. I know how hard our Network Management teams work to coordinate works across the county, but some roadworks are poorly managed by utility companies. When they fail to implement road closures and temporary traffic lights in the agreed ways and at the agreed times, it's our residents and businesses that suffer. Frustratingly, the current regulations only allow us to fine utility companies £80 for breaching permit conditions, and just £300 for carrying out unauthorised roadworks. This is not a meaningful disincentive for multi-million-pound utility companies, many of whom appear to view such fines as simply the cost of doing business, rather than an incentive to improve.

:: Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, Executive Member for Highways

Hertfordshire County Council have issued over 10,000 fines to utilities since April 2022. The letter asks the Secretary of State to review the amount utility companies can be fined for non-compliance, and to change the rules around fines and inspections so that councils can provide a stronger incentive to utility companies to manage their roadworks.