Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing local councils to review applications by utility firms for emergency roadworks in order to determine when the roadworks should take place.

Emergency works are defined in legislation as works needed to deal with dangers to life and property and so must be carried out urgently. For these, and other urgent works needed to restore customer connections or deal with leaks, permits must be submitted to the relevant highway authority within two hours of works starting on site. The authority can assess these permits and request works are completed by a particular time.

Authorities are also required to evaluate the operation of their permit schemes, annually for the first three years of operation and then every three years after that.