I am sure we are all sick to death of roadworks, temporary traffic lights, and, worst of all, road closures.
Temporary lights are a bane of motorists' lives, particularly the modern proliferation of multi way lights which take forever to change. And why do they often have lights for roadworks which take up no more room than a legally parked vehicle ! We cannot do much about all that, it's just the relentless march of H&S overkill, but there may be something.....
The worst of the frustration is, of course, being held up when nobody is even working on the site, and that is more often the case than not.
I have been doing a bit of research on all of this and it seems to me the problem is the way the licence system (for a road closure) works. It costs little more for a long licence than for a short one. 
This is madness. 
Surely the licences should be charged by the day, and at a rate high enough to motivate the utility company to get the job done ASAP ?
I accept the extra cost would put up bills slightly, but it's just tax really so any money would at least be going into public coffers. 
The real benefit would be less time wasted by literally millions of motorists, which, at even just the minimum wage rate, must be Billions of pounds a year.

Is it worth starting a petition to put before parliament ?

Haven't been on the forum for a while, but I can help answer/discuss some of your questions/concerns as I work in the industry.

In short, every utility has a statuary right to place or maintain their services in the public highway. Gas, water, electric, telecoms etc., are all crammed into the highway (footway, carriageway, verge etc.) and must be maintained, repaired, replaced or installed at any point in time.

Works fall into two major categories; planned or urgent/emergency. Planned works are further broken down into duration, with minor works classified as works lasting 1 to 3 days, standard lasting 4 to 10 days, and major works 10+ days by duration. Minor works only require a minimum of 3 working days advanced notice from the utility to the HA, standard works a minimum of 10 days and major works should (in an ideal world) be planned in 3 months in advance.

Urgent/Emergency works (e.g., leaks, gas escape, electrical faults, collapses) by default carry no advanced notification. In fact, works could be immediately underway without any warning, or even permit being sent to the respective HA. A permit is still required within 2 hours of works commencing on the ground, but this doesn't take away the fact that urgent/emergency works can and do unfortunately just appear at any time of the day/night.

Each and every single works site will impact how the works are carried out. From the width or speed of the road, to the location of the works (footway/carriageway) to the depth/height of the works. The Code of Practice for Safety at Street Works and Road Works (Red Book) lays down the basic legislation of what must be taken into account for all works. It's there for both the work force's safety, and the public who use the highway.

Traffic lights are often used in circumstances where the road speed is above 30mph or there are multiple road junctions. Road closures may be used in urgent or emergency circumstances, or for planned works where the minimum widths to maintain safe access passed a works site cannot be maintained.  If you can't maintain the minimum distances, then the Red Book is hard and fast if a road closure may be the only suitable traffic management method to use.

More often than not, the public are vocal about anything where they have to wait because of any works. If you place any works out on the highway, they will by default reduce/impact the flow for either pedestrians or more often vehicles. Works under traffic lights might seem to be causing delays, but when roads carry hundreds if not thousands of vehicles a day, any reduction in capacity will create some delay. Traffic Lights can either be manually controlled to help reduce this impact (reduce not eliminate) or use of automatic/smart signals which encompass computer systems and radar type devices to manage traffic flows, help to try and keep traffic flowing as best as possible.  You cannot carry out any works without some impact.

The same public that are vocal about having to sit in traffic when a water main is being fixed, or a new gas supply is being installed, will complain when the utilities tell them they have to wait for weeks for their new service to be installed, or if their broadband connection is down and they need it repaired. They don't want to wait for the works to be done, or even care how the works are done, they just want it done yesterday. In addition to this, especially for planned works, if a utility needs to carry out major works (deep excavations or complex traffic management setups), to install a new supply, the costs of this are often passed onto the customer. Permit fees are reasonably cheap, but some HA's have additional charges in place for the busiest parts of the network under what is called Lane Rental, which carries daily charges of hundreds, if not thousands of pounds, to work on if a running lane is reduced or a road is closed completely. Unfortunately, while the charges are there to deter works being done at the busiest times, whilst urgent/emergency works still occur and are usually given a period of time to attend to site at no or reduced charges, before full charges may be incurred (again this would be to deter unnecessary or prolonged delays where they could be reduced or avoided).

Planned works will often either incur the additional charges, and the utilities will often simply pass this onto the customer, or where possible works may be done outside of peak times, or at night, if this is feasible, and in the case of night time/weekend working, is authorised by the Environmental Health teams at the respective authority. There are existing laws that govern when works can be carried out, and noise pollution etc. is just as much an issue/concern of the public than sitting in congestion during the day, they want to sleep at night.

Collaborative work is also something that is often a goal in coordination. You're building a new house, and more than likely you're going to need water, gas, sewer, electric, telecoms, but when you go to order the services, you're needing to pay for them, you might not be able to afford to pay thousands of pounds at the same time, so you go for your electric or water first, and then order the rest later. So, the utilities often only plan in works when they have been paid, leading to potentially the same area of highway being worked on multiple times over the course of days/weeks/months, simply because neither the utility or HA knew about the request for works, until it was paid for and planned in.

I've waffled on for a bit and haven't even scratched the surface. If you've got any questions, feel free to message me.

You might also find using the website https://one.network/ will help you see what's going on around your local area. The permit information comes from the DfT Street Manager system, but is pending where works have had a permit (so don't expect to see a permit emergency works that have literally just started) but you should be able to get a good idea about what is happening around you, and what may be coming up in the near future. Permits are subject to constant changes (from details of works, traffic management changes to date/duration changes) so you'll find things may change from one day to the next.

Edited July 21, 20232 yr by Zico
Spelling & Grammer

12 hours ago, Zico said:

I work in the industry.

Good summary there, Yaz. I recall lots of "fun" with Red Book, RASWA (and PUSWA before that) from my time in the industry!

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Good summary there, Yaz. I recall lots of "fun" with Red Book, RASWA (and PUSWA before that) from my time in the industry!

I'm a new boy all things considered, though it's been about 15 years now.

I don't know how I ended up getting into the industry but it's keeping me going 😁.

On 7/18/2023 at 12:41 AM, Zico said:

Haven't been on the forum for a while, but I can help answer/discuss some of your questions/concerns as I work in the industry.

In short, every utility has a statuary right to place or maintain their services in the public highway. Gas, water, electric, telecoms etc., are all crammed into the highway (footway, carriageway, verge etc.) and must be maintained, repaired, replaced or installed at any point in time.

Works fall into two major categories; planned or urgent/emergency. Planned works are further broken down into duration, with minor works classified as works lasting 1 to 3 days, standard lasting 4 to 10 days, and major works 10+ days by duration. Minor works only require a minimum of 3 working days advanced notice from the utility to the HA, standard works a minimum of 10 days and major works should (in an ideal world) be planned in 3 months in advance.

Urgent/Emergency works (e.g., leaks, gas escape, electrical faults, collapses) by default carry no advanced notification. In fact, works could be immediately underway without any warning, or even permit being sent to the respective HA. A permit is still required within 2 hours of works commencing on the ground, but this doesn't take away the fact that urgent/emergency works can and do unfortunately just appear at any time of the day/night.

Each and every single works site will impact how the works are carried out. From the width or speed of the road, to the location of the works (footway/carriageway) to the depth/height of the works. The Code of Practice for Safety at Street Works and Road Works (Red Book) lays down the basic legislation of what must be taken into account for all works. It's there for both the work force's safety, and the public who use the highway.

Traffic lights are often used in circumstances where the road speed is above 30mph or there are multiple road junctions. Road closures may be used in urgent or emergency circumstances, or for planned works where the minimum widths to maintain safe access passed a works site cannot be maintained.  If you can't maintain the minimum distances, then the Red Book is hard and fast if a road closure may be the only suitable traffic management method to use.

More often than not, the public are vocal about anything where they have to wait because of any works. If you place any works out on the highway, they will by default reduce/impact the flow for either pedestrians or more often vehicles. Works under traffic lights might seem to be causing delays, but when roads carry hundreds if not thousands of vehicles a day, any reduction in capacity will create some delay. Traffic Lights can either be manually controlled to help reduce this impact (reduce not eliminate) or use of automatic/smart signals which encompass computer systems and radar type devices to manage traffic flows, help to try and keep traffic flowing as best as possible.  You cannot carry out any works without some impact.

The same public that are vocal about having to sit in traffic when a water main is being fixed, or a new gas supply is being installed, will complain when the utilities tell them they have to wait for weeks for their new service to be installed, or if their broadband connection is down and they need it repaired. They don't want to wait for the works to be done, or even care how the works are done, they just want it done yesterday. In addition to this, especially for planned works, if a utility needs to carry out major works (deep excavations or complex traffic management setups), to install a new supply, the costs of this are often passed onto the customer. Permit fees are reasonably cheap, but some HA's have additional charges in place for the busiest parts of the network under what is called Lane Rental, which carries daily charges of hundreds, if not thousands of pounds, to work on if a running lane is reduced or a road is closed completely. Unfortunately, while the charges are there to deter works being done at the busiest times, whilst urgent/emergency works still occur and are usually given a period of time to attend to site at no or reduced charges, before full charges may be incurred (again this would be to deter unnecessary or prolonged delays where they could be reduced or avoided).

Planned works will often either incur the additional charges, and the utilities will often simply pass this onto the customer, or where possible works may be done outside of peak times, or at night, if this is feasible, and in the case of night time/weekend working, is authorised by the Environmental Health teams at the respective authority. There are existing laws that govern when works can be carried out, and noise pollution etc. is just as much an issue/concern of the public than sitting in congestion during the day, they want to sleep at night.

Collaborative work is also something that is often a goal in coordination. You're building a new house, and more than likely you're going to need water, gas, sewer, electric, telecoms, but when you go to order the services, you're needing to pay for them, you might not be able to afford to pay thousands of pounds at the same time, so you go for your electric or water first, and then order the rest later. So, the utilities often only plan in works when they have been paid, leading to potentially the same area of highway being worked on multiple times over the course of days/weeks/months, simply because neither the utility or HA knew about the request for works, until it was paid for and planned in.

I've waffled on for a bit and haven't even scratched the surface. If you've got any questions, feel free to message me.

You might also find using the website https://one.network/ will help you see what's going on around your local area. The permit information comes from the DfT Street Manager system, but is pending where works have had a permit (so don't expect to see a permit emergency works that have literally just started) but you should be able to get a good idea about what is happening around you, and what may be coming up in the near future. Permits are subject to constant changes (from details of works, traffic management changes to date/duration changes) so you'll find things may change from one day to the next.

That's very interesting Z.

However, it does not persuade me that the present permit system is fit for purpose.
Time without number I see roadworks causing great inconvenience just left with no work taking place. In the worst instances the jobs have actually finished but the barriers and/or lights are left up because the utility company has not prioritised removing them.
Something has to change, and the utility company paying by the day, or even better by the hour, for any road closure, or even traffic lights (which also cause delay), seems the way to go. That seems the simplest system, let the profit motive encourage these companies to think of the incovenienced motorist (at last). These payments would also apply for emergency closures. On the subject of the latter, I know for a fact many councils' roads departments are a bit cynical about if all these emergency closures really are emergencies !

What I think most people find frustrating is when temporary traffic lights are left operating when no work is being carried out, e.g. outside working hours or overnight, and the works involved are not obstructing the highway, the lights being there purely for worker safety. It doesn't seem too much to ask that they be turned off in these circumstances.