Hertfordshire utility works summit to tackle road disruption

Water, sewage, electricity, gas and telecoms firms have a legal right to dig up public roads to install, repair or maintain supplies of their services.

But concerns have been raised about the length of time roads can be closed for these works, the quality of repairs to reinstate roads or footpaths and the scheduling of repeated works by different utilities on the same stretch of road.

The issue was considered at a meeting of Hertfordshire County Council’s highways cabinet panel on Thursday, October 8, when executive member for highways Cllr Stephen GIles-Medhurst (Lib Dem, Abbots Langley) agreed to host a summit.

All 12 Hertfordshire MPs and representatives of each political group on the county council will be invited, alongside representatives of Affinity Water, Cadent Gas and UK Power Networks.

“We’re looking at a round-table summit – not necessarily criticising the utility companies, but seeing how we can better work together,” Cllr Giles-Medhurst told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

On the agenda could be those contractors who start work at 8am, during the morning rush hour, when their permits should run from 9am, and whether a contractor could work an extra hour on a particular day to avoid the need to return on the next.

The summit could also look at keeping residents better informed, to understand why works barriers need to be in place, even if there is no obvious work ongoing.

The work of utilities on Hertfordshire highways was raised at the meeting in response to a motion by Cllr Matt Cowley (Con, Harpenden South West) which said that although the council had made a commitment almost a year ago to reduce disruption from utility works, it remained a concern for residents.

The motion said keeping Hertfordshire moving should be one of the primary aims of the council’s highways department. It suggested local processes of managing utility works could be improved and that national rules were “insufficient”.

The motion had called for a summit that would have included all Herts MPs, councillors and campaign groups to agree priorities for changes to national legislation.

No vote was taken on the motion, which cannot be amended once submitted.

The idea of a smaller summit with MPs, political group representatives and the three major utility companies was proposed by Cllr Giles-Medhurst and backed by Cllr Cowley, who told the LDRS: “Obviously it’s really welcome we have some cross-party agreement on this.”

Cllr Cowley acknowledged the work of the council in this area but that it had not had the effect residents wanted.

He said: “I hope the summit will have a positive impact on the disruption residents are seeing.”