£55,000 in fines from roadworks issues

ROADWORKS overrunning and being carried out without a permit resulted in Leicestershire County Council collecting more than £55,000 in fines in 18 months.

The authority operates a permit system that sees providers, including its own highways department, apply for permission to carry out work on the county’s road network, effectively “booking” road space.

The scheme, which has been running since February 1, 2018, saw 40,313 permits granted when the last count was made on August 1 this year.

The breakdown means that, on average, between 50 and 70 roads are dug up for works to start somewhere in Leicestershire every day.

Chair of the Environment and Transport Scrutiny committee, Coun Alan Pearson, said: “On a daily basis we have between 50 and 70 new road works start, every day, add that up over the year, it’s incredible.

“That’s why we needed this permit scheme.”

Companies are charged for permits, but the fees can’t be used to generate revenue.

A report into the scheme shows it recorded a deficit of £13,800 but this was off set by the £55,280 generated by issuing fines.

There were 75 penalty notices of £500 given to firms that carried out work without a permit, and another 411 were dished out at a cost of £120 to companies that carried out roadworks that contravened the conditions on the permit.

Both charges are reduced, to £300 or £80 respectfully, if they are paid within 29 days.

When asked about what happens to cash collected from the fines, a spokesman for Leicestershire County Council said: “The money generated from the penalty charge related offences is reinvested into frontline highways operations.”

Permits can also be revoked for safety issues, repeated breach of conditions and unforeseen circumstances.

The cost of a permit depends on the work set to be carried out and different projects require different notice lengths.

Major projects that will last longer than 10 days and are likely to cause disruption need at least three months notice. Applications for standard works need to be made ten working days before the start date, and works expected to last less than three days can be put in three working days prior to the start.

Companies carrying out emergency works can make an application retrospectively.