Edinburgh roadworks: council should have powers to charge utility firms up to £2,500 a day, says MP
An Edinburgh MP is calling for the city council to be given new powers to tackle the problem of roads being repeatedly dug up and roadworks taking too long.
Dr Scott Arthur, Labour MP for Edinburgh South West, wants the Scottish Government to grant Edinburgh council powers to introduce a lane rental scheme, which would see utility companies charged up to £2,500 a day for digging up the busiest roads at peak times.
The idea of a daily charge for occupying part of the road is to encourage the companies to finish the work more quickly and plan it better.
Dr Arthur says the system has already proved successful in London and Kent, helping to cut congestion and improve traffic flow.
And the UK Government has announced an expansion of the approach in England, devolving powers to areas with Mayors to create new schemes, with 50 per cent of the revenue generated reinvested in local road repairs.
But the Scottish Government has said it has no plans to allow such schemes north of the border, citing a review in 2015 which came down against the idea.
In a letter to Dr Arthur, Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “The evidence gathered during this exercise showed an overall lack of support for permit schemes or lane rental schemes, specifically noting them as being incompatible with the overall Scottish coordination framework, and unlikely to deliver meaningful changes in work duration.”
Dr Arthur’s call for a rethink comes after major disruption caused by roadworks on Lanark Road and Craiglockhart Avenue., which led to ongoing engagement with the Scottish Road Works Commissioner (SRWC).
After raising residents’ complaint about poor coordination, Dr Arthur was told that a review of the Code of Practice for the Coordination of Works in Roads was underway. It is expected to recommend better coordination with bus operators and bridge authorities, clearer processes for road closures, more data sharing on underground utilities, and stricter notice periods for when works start and finish.
Dr Arthur welcomed the review but said more needed to be done to keep Edinburgh moving. He said: “The code of practice improvements are good, but doing it alongside lane rental would make it much more impactful.
“People are fed up with repeated roadworks on the same section of road, roadworks just moving up and down the road all the time so people never know quite what to expect.
“And Lanark Road is a particular concern because once you get past Gillespie crossroads it’s really the only road into town for people, as well as being the route for buses.”
Dr Arthur said he was disappointed the Scottish Government was not willing to look again at the idea of lane rental schemes.
“They’re basing their view on a review carried out a decade ago. Traffic has changed quite a bit since then, in the wrong way.”