The leaders of Southampton City Council are to make a renewed attempt to push through plans to charge roadworks operator after an initial application was rejected by the government.
The Daily Echo says that the lane rental scheme would see daily charges of £2,500 for a full closure and £1,500 for a lane closure or temporary traffic lights.
A first attempt to introduce the initiative was refused by DfT as too many roads were included in the proposal. The city council is now consulting on a revised scheme that would include 67 roads. Deputy leader and cabinet member for transport Cllr Christie Lambert said the local authority had taken on board feedback from the DfT and made adjustments.
This largely centred around reducing the size of the scheme, as evinced in Highways News recent story on Citisense’s lane rental offering, to meet the government’s five to 10 per cent of the road network guidelines and finalising a traffic sensitivity review. The rejected application, which was submitted by the council in April, included around 20 per cent of the road network.
Cllr Lambert said: “Subject to further approvals to proceed with the second application in October, we hope the DfT will fully consider and assess our revised application and we are committed to working with the DfT to address any further feedback or questions that may arise in due course.”
The consultation, which is open until September 10, said discounts would be offered to charges in specified circumstances, including if the work is major infrastructure improvements or if operators collaborate to reduce the overall length of time closures or temporary lights are in place.
(Pic: Mapillary)
