On Tuesday 19th March NJUG attended the Energy & Utilities Alliance (EUA) Utility Street Works Seminar 2013. It was an informative and well-attended conference with some interesting speakers and exhibitors. Les Guest, CEO of NJUG presented the challenges and successes of utilities street works, highlighting improved NJUG performance data on overstay charges, first time reinstatements and fixed penalty notices (FPNS).
Anthony Boucher, Deputy Director of Traffic Policy at Department for Transport (DfT) and Mark Beasley, Head of Planned Interventions at Transport for London (TfL) provided updates which are summarised below:
Anthony Boucher at DfT gave a ‘Traffic Policy Update’ detailing the Government’s current position on street works legislation and the Department’s upcoming plans for the future. He also outlined the Government’s ultimate aims for street works including
Specific reference was made to the Government’s decision not to proceed with the deregulation of street works qualifications noting the number of consultation responses received by the DfT and arguments put forward by the industry. However, he maintained the Government’s commitment to deregulation (Red Tape Challenge) quoting its ‘one in two out’ principle which remains its position towards new regulations.
In terms of future DfT street works priorities he specifically raised the following:
He also gave indication that Lane Rental ‘pilot’ schemes will be fully evaluated before deciding if, rather than when, it will be implemented throughout the UK.
Mark Beasley at TfL gave a progress update on their Lane Rental Scheme, providing some interesting statistics some of its perceived successes. Of note, an interim Report for Oct 2012-March 2013 (not including the skewed results during the Olympics) is expected to be published at the end of April, possibly mid-May.
You can find a link to the full presentations on the EUA website: http://www.eua.org.uk/utility-street-works-presentations-2013