Roads Minister faces Transport Committee on reforming street works

The House of Commons Transport Select Committee is holding an Evidence session, Managing the impact of street works on Wednesday 30 April at 09:15 at Grimond Room, Portcullis House in Westminster. The session can also be viewed on ParliamentTV.   

The Transport Committee concludes the final session of its inquiry into managing the impact of street works on surface quality and road and pavement users by questioning Lilian Greenwood, Minister for the Future of Roads. 

The inquiry set out to investigate the rules and regulations surrounding utility companies’ ability to dig up roads to carry out maintenance on infrastructure such as cables, sewage pipes, water and gas mains. 

In this session, the Minister will face questions on whether there could be an improved inspection regime that better supports local authorities, and gives them more powers to penalise poor reinstatement work while incentivising good practice. 

MPs will also be interested to hear whether the Department for Transport thinks there is a problem of ‘immediate permits’ being overused in cases that have been known about for weeks, allowing companies to bypass some checks and balances. 

The cross-party Committee will ask whether England should have a Road Works Commissioner, as is used in Scotland to mediate disputes between councils and utility firms. 

The Minister also faces questions on what the Government has learnt from the adoption by some authorities of lane rental schemes to incentivise quicker completion of work, and whether this system could be replicated across the country. 

There may also be questions around how local authorities can ensure good practice as electric charging infrastructure is installed on local roads to enable the transition to EVs.