Decision details

To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport to implement the Southampton Permit Scheme (SPS). The scheme seeks to ensure that future road works and activities on the road network are planned and coordinated under The Traffic Management Act (TMA) 2004 which would improve coordination and reduce disruption on the network.

(i)  To approve the implementation of the Southampton Roadworks Permit Scheme (SoRPS) subject to the Department of Transport (DfT) providing technical approval of the scheme and subject to recommendations (ii) and (iii) of this report

(ii)  To delegate authority to the Director, Place, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport and the Chief Financial Officer, to formally approve the implementation of the scheme to the DfT and in doing so, ask the DfT to make a Statutory Instrument to empower the scheme.

(iii)  To delegate authority to the Head of Contract Management, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, the Director, Place and the Chief Financial Officer, to approve changes to the Highways Service Partnership contract to allow the Council’s Highways Service Provider Balfour Beatty Living Places Ltd to undertake works relating to the Permit Scheme on the Council’s behalf, provided that commercial close and the contract amendments are in accordance with the parameters described in Confidential Appendix 1 of this report.

1.  The Department of Transport (DfT) has agreed to carry out technical approval of the Council’s submitted proposal and make a Statutory Instrument (SI) to provide new powers to operate the scheme.

2.  The technical approval letter from the DfT should arrive in early November 2014. It will be necessary to respond to this letter within a four week window to meet their scheme implementation deadline of 31^st March 2015.

3.  The scheme will require additional staff and resources to manage the new process. These will be provided by Balfour Beatty Living Places (BBLP). The size of the change is enough to require an amendment to the Highways Service Partnership (HSP) contract. This is covered further in the confidential Appendix 1.

1.  The Council could continue to manage the network using the existing New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 (NRSWA) legislation. However, this would not provide the same level of control or deliver the same benefits as the proposed Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA 2004) Permit scheme.

2.  The existing NRSWA legislation provides less coordination powers for works within the highway. Only limited information, which is subject to change without consent, is made available by works promoters. This leads to greater disruption on the network which affects all road users especially public transport services.

3.  The existing scheme is currently fully funded by the Council. The new Permit Scheme seeks to be self-funding via a payment system for administration services by works promoters.

4.  The Council could delay implementation of SoRPS until after March 2015. A scheme introduced after this date could be approved by the Council without the need to apply to the DfT for a SI. However, schemes that are approved by the DfT have the advantage of a robust technical appraisal by experts in the field at no cost to the promoting Council and is therefore considered less open to challenge. The submission is already with DfT and there is no benefit to delaying the scheme commencement.

None