Roadworks row costs water firm £6,670
UNITED Utilities has been fined more than £6,000 after failing to ensure there was enough room for pedestrians to pass roadworks safely.
The water company was taken to court by Cheshire East Council after officers witnessed a woman with a pushchair struggle to negotiate the narrow section of pavement around roadworks on Hibel Road.
A mobility scooter user was also said to be at risk of toppling over and into the busy road, and directional signs were pointing in the wrong direction.
United Utilities Water Ltd admitted failing to ensure that the works were adequately safeguarded, causing pedestrians, including one person in a mobility scooter, to use a busy highway with passing traffic, to manoeuvre around the works, under the 1991 ‘New Roads and Street Works Act’ at South Cheshire Magistrates Court.
Council officials said a street works inspector carried out a random inspection of trench work outside the Toyota garage on Hibel Road in June 2017.
They also witnessed machinery being used to remove spoil operating over the footway ‘presenting a significant danger to any member of the public,’ a council spokesman said.
The council also argued signing and guarding to both the footway and the stationary ‘grab wagon’ were insufficient, while a directional ‘Keep Right’ sign in the road was pointing in the wrong direction.
Contractors working for United Utilities Water Ltd told the inspector the traffic management arrangements were all that they had available to them, according to the council. But Cheshire East Council argued that the contractors had worked in a dangerous manner, placing pedestrians at risk from passing traffic and demonstrated a disregard for their safety.
The water and sewerage company was fined £3,500 with £3,000 costs, plus a £170 victim surcharge. Speaking after the hearing, Councillor Don Stockton, cabinet member for environment, said: “We take no pleasure in prosecuting a utilities company for carrying out emergency repairs. However, the safety of pedestrians and road users is paramount and we expect all contractors to operate in a safe manner and to ensure that all members of the public are not placed at any risk.”
A second charge of failing to apply for a permit from Cheshire East Council to carry out work in Station Street, Macclesfield, adjoining the Hibel Road excavation, was withdrawn.
A United Utilities spokesperson said: “The safety of our people and the public is our priority during the many street work projects we carry out across the North West every week. We’re sorry on this occasion we did not live up to the required standard. Since this matter we have reinforced the importance of safety with our contractors and employees and have been recognised externally for our compliance.”