Want to dig a hole in the road? You’ll need a permit, mate
A PUBLIC consultation begins this week for organisations to tell City Hall just what they think of roadworks clogging up the streets of London. Now a consultation on a proposed roadworks permit scheme aims to regulate the free for all’ whenever things like gas, electricity and water mains are being repaired
A PUBLIC consultation begins this week for organisations to tell City Hall just what they think of roadworks clogging up the streets of London.
There are around a million holes dug in London each year, with little or no regulation.
Most roadworks are carried out with less than 10 days’ notice.
Now a consultation on a proposed roadworks permit scheme aims to regulate the free for all’ whenever things like gas, electricity and water mains are being repaired.
It is being run by the highways body, Transport for London, and 18 local authorities including Hackney and Redbridge in East London and the City Corporation.
BORIS IS FED UP
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Mayor Boris Johnson wants to put an end to roads being dug up by one utility company and resurfaced, only to be dug up again by another.
“We’re fed up with being stuck in queues while traffic cones litter the streets without a workman in sight,” he said.
“I pledge to end this archaic system where the utility companies can dig up the roads with reckless abandon. They must pull their socks up.”
NEVER-ENDING NIGHTMARE
The move could also end the frustrations shopkeepers face when work outside their premises seem to be left for months on end, like the mains replacement in the East End which closed part of Brick Lane for more than a year and badly hit trade.
City Hall is contacting 500 organisations this week to take part in the three-month consultation.
An application is then made to the Transport Department in Whitehall for the scheme to be approved, which could come into effect by the end of the year.
