Approval for plans to charge firms for roadworks

Plans to charge contractors and utility firms a fee for carrying out roadworks on key roads during the busiest times of the day have been approved.

The Department for Transport has approved North Yorkshire Council's application for a lane rental scheme, similar to ones already in operation in London and Kent.

Under the scheme, companies would need to pay daily fees of up to £2,500 for undertaking maintenance work at peak times.

The council said the policy, which could be operational within months, was designed to reduce the length of roadworks and encourage companies to work together.

When piloted in the south of England, the initiative led to a significant reduction in congestion, as companies worked outside peak times to avoid accumulating charges, according to North Yorkshire Council.

Malcolm Taylor, the council's executive member for highways and transport, said they had applied for permission to introduce the scheme in April last year.

"Charging for the time roadworks are in place means we can provide incentives to complete the work quickly and outside of peak times," he said.

"We hope the lane rental scheme will reduce unnecessary disruption to all road users travelling across our vast road network."

He said any surplus revenue generated by the scheme would be invested into highways maintenance and measures that aimed to reduce disruption on the network.

North Yorkshire has a network of roads with a total distance of nearly 5,800 miles.

Lane rental charges would apply to works on about 7% of the county's overall road network, or almost 500 miles, which have been prioritised to minimise disruption.

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