Under the revised penalty scheme, from 1 October this year utilities will be fined £5,000 a day for the first three extra days (up from £2,500 per day), rising to £10,000 a day from the fourth extra day onward. The money will be collected by local authorities but must be used to implement transport policies.
Les Guest, Njug chief executive, said “Given the very high levels of compliance, NJUG challenges the government to justify why such an increase is needed, particularly at a time when the Government is committed to reducing burdens on business.” He added, “Government is targeting utilities, despite the improvements they are making, without tackling local authority works which account for around 50 per cent of works in the street, but are not subject to the same incentives”.
Njug complained that charges had been hiked at a time when other regulations (permits and lane rental) had been implemented that allow even tighter control of works, “but impose considerable extra cost to utilities and their customers”.
Announcing the new charging levels, transport minister Norman Baker said: “Increasing these charges means that utilities will pay penalties which reflect the cost of the disruption suffered when works go on longer than they should”.