Variation of the West Berkshire Council Street Works Permit Scheme

Having your say

Consultation status Results published

Start date: 2022-02-04

End date: 2022-03-04

Results 2022-03-31

Category: Roads, Transport and Parking

Ward:

Background

On 1 September 2017 West Berkshire District Council (the Council) brought the current version of the Street Works Permit Scheme into effect through a legal order.

After undertaking an evaluation of the permit scheme in 2021, as required under regulations, the Council has determined that changes are required to the permit scheme operating model. As such the permit fee levels need to increase to cover the additional costs of operating the permit scheme (in accordance with regulations).

The Council also intends to take the opportunity to vary the permit scheme content to ensure it is, and will remain, fit-for-purpose and in accordance with legislation and associated statutory guidance.

A copy of the Icon for pdf proposed permit scheme [398KB] can be viewed here or below.

Why we want your views

In accordance with Regulation 5 of the Traffic Management Permit Scheme (England) Regulations 2007 the Council is now consulting on this varation.

How to take part

Responses to the consultation should be sent by email to the Streetworks Team or via letter marked for the attention of Streetworks, Environment Department, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury RG14 5LD. This consultation will run for a period of four weeks between Friday 4 February 2022 and Friday 4 March 2022 (inclusive).

What happens next

Consultation responses will be considered and a decision made as to whether to implement the revised scheme as currently drafted or to make amendments in light of comments received. The results of the consultation will be published prior to 31 March 2022.

What you told us

Along with notification of the proposed variation of WBC’s Streetworks Permit Scheme via the Consultation and Engagement Hub (https://info.westberks.gov.uk/consultations), the proposed document was also distributed by the Streetworks team to all parties potentially affected by the Scheme for consideration. 3 responses were received from Statutory Undertakers working in West Berkshire and all 3 responses made comment that the most recent Permit Scheme Evaluation report and updated Cost Benefit Analysis were not made available for review at the time of consultation.

Out of the 3 responses received, 2 welcomed the clear, concise nature of the new Permit Scheme document, although a number of questions were raised regarding the content of the Scheme. These questions included requests for clarification of some of the Scheme content and challenged some of the documents referenced within the Scheme.

What we did

Every question raised within each consultation response was considered and either noted or challenged accordingly. Individual responses were then sent to each respondent to address the specific matters raised.

Having reviewed all responses it was considered that there was no reason that the varied Scheme should not be introduced. As such, Version 5.0 of the WBC Permit Scheme became effective on 1 May 2022.

Further information on the Streetworks Permit Scheme is available at https://www.westberks.gov.uk/roadworkspermits

Variation of the West Berkshire Council Street Works Permit Scheme

What you told us

What we did

Is this useful?