Roads: Roadworks

Lord Lea of Crondall Excerpts

Wednesday 28th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My noble friend is quite right. The main tool for local authorities is the permit system which, as I say, has been taken up by about a third of local authorities. Some local authorities do not need to use a permit scheme because they do not have congestion problems; others are developing their schemes. In addition, we are looking at lane rental, which has been piloted in London, and at one or two other lane rental schemes as well.

[Lord Lea of Crondall]

My Lords, would the noble Lord like to express his condolences to Hampshire County Council for every time that it has done a major job—

[Lord Barnett]

My Lords—

[Lord Lea of Crondall]

I started first; he is a Privy Counsellor—okay.

[Lord Barnett]

Is the noble Earl aware that the disruption outside this House over the past couple of days has caused great difficulty for Members who have to come and go by car or taxi? I declare an interest as one of those. That disruption is as nothing compared with what Black Rod has done to Members of this House with the system that is now in place. Will the Minister ask the Leader of the House to have a word with Black Rod to revert to the previous position where Members could come and go rather more easily?

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[Earl Attlee]

My noble friend makes an important point: reinstatement is an important issue. There are guidelines and local authorities should normally check that the whole reinstatement process is being done correctly.

[Lord Lea of Crondall]

My Lords, will the Minister express his condolences to Hampshire County Council, because every time it does a wonderful job in resurfacing a major road, either gas, electricity, water or telephone companies dig it up again? Are there any statistics that suggest that the Government have any reason to be complacent that we are making improvements in co-ordination rather than going backwards?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I am sure that we are making improvements. The previous Government introduced a permit system that allows local authorities to co-ordinate roadworks as much as possible to ensure that they do not interfere with each other and that we do not have more works than are necessary. However, noble Lords have to understand that that is quite difficult when you have got telecoms going alongside water pipes and gas pipes.