Useful tools are already available
Any councillor will know that the state of the roads is a major public concern.
In particular, their inboxes will be full of people irritated by street works causing unnecessary delays, unexpected disruption, and apparently digging up the same roads again and again. Yet street works are vital.
Installing, repairing and replacing utilities supports goals from economic growth to better broadband and decarbonising transport.
What can councils do to ensure necessary work takes place, but also to reduce unnecessary disruption?
Some of the answers are in a new ‘good practice’ report for councillors commissioned from Upstream by the LGA and JAG(UK), which represents the UK’s highway and road authorities.
The context of this new report is changing policy.
Street works are hard to coordinate for many reasons, but the main factor is incentives: a large range of utilities companies have the legal right to dig up the road, and weak reasons to work together or coordinate with public bodies.
The law is now changing to increase fines for poor behaviour by companies, and there is a debate about a further rebalancing of powers over street works.
However, useful tools are also already available, working within the current system.
A range of new innovations are emerging, for example, to prevent, plan and provide street works.
Mobile apps allow teams on the ground to be much more responsive and communicative with public authorities.
Trenchless digging has been around for decades, and new forms of ‘micro-tunnelling’ and ‘pipe-jacking’ continue to develop.
Data systems are gradually improving, with a range of private software tools, a single public system for managing works (Street Manager) and a single map of underground infrastructure (the National Underground Asset Register).
In time, this will allow much more accurate, up-to-date information for drivers, transport operators and citizens to plan around.
There are a range of under-used practices in managing street works, too. These range from simple communication tools, such as letting utilities firms know when highways authority repairs will take place, so work can be sequenced.
Bus services can be much better coordinated through dedicated ‘champions’ in authorities. Place-making teams can plan for future street works through their choice of materials – on many roads, simply using the humble brick can make it easier to undertake works and also to avoid an ugly ‘street scar’.
Teams can be structured to bring together transport, street works, highways and economic management.
And finally, local authorities can look at new policy and regulatory tools.
Permit schemes are near-universal but have under-exploited options for encouraging organisations undertaking works to adopt new technologies.
Flexi-permits are evolving and will present opportunities for councils to shape works at an earlier stage.
And lane rental has been successfully used in a number of councils and is being rolled out to others.
Used properly, lane rental elegantly cuts through the complexity of street works: it gives organisations a clear incentive to reduce disruption, but leaves the innovation needed to achieve that up to the frontline organisations.
So, while it might be a time of policy change for street works, the best authorities will take action now with the tools available to them.
- You can read the street works report in full at www.local.gov.uk/publications/councillors-guide-better-streetworks