County Hall welcomes new proposals for managing road works

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I don’t often share County Council press releases but I know how frustrating it is to suffer constant disruption from road works. Especially if they seem to hang around for weeks with little sign of work being done! I don’t suppose the proposals here will lead to changes any time soon but hopefully they will eventually result in some improvements:

Norfolk County Council welcomes national streetworks reform
Norfolk County Council has welcomed the recent recommendations from the Parliamentary Transport Select Committee (TSC) aimed at improving how streetworks are managed across the country.

The enquiry was established in December 2024 to investigate the growing impact and volume of streetworks across the country, and how highway authorities are managing these challenges.

The resulting recommendations, published in July, include:

  • Extending the reinstatement guarantee to five years
  • Fines for misuse of the “Immediate (urgent)” works category
  • Devolving Lane Rental Scheme approvals to highway authorities
  • Mandatory Forward Planning Information
  • Incremental fines for delayed remedial works
  • Requiring developers to share utility work plans and timelines

These reforms come at a time when Norfolk County Council continues to manage a high volume of streetworks. In 2024/25, the council issued over 44,000 streetworks permits, with 75% of works carried out by utility companies and developers and 7000 were for emergency unplanned works. The council also rejected 5,400 proposals and issued £685,000 in fines for non-compliance and overruns.

Cllr Graham Plant, cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport, said:
“We know how disruptive roadworks can be for residents and road users across Norfolk. These recommendations are a positive step forward in making streetworks more efficient and accountable. The Department for Transport is due to respond back to the Transport Select Committee in September 2025 and we look forward to working with national and local partners to implement any changes they may make to maximise the benefit for our communities.”

 

 

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