Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Permit Scheme

2.1 Co-ordination

All activities performed for the purposes of maintenance can reduce the width of the street available for public use whoever the promoter is.  The scale of the disruption experienced is relative to the activity type and the capacity of the street, however we must not ignore the impact small scale works in non-traffic sensitive streets have on the residents as there is still an aspect of disruption in their lives.

Effective co-ordination and management by the Permit Authority is essential to ensure that traffic disruption is minimised whilst allowing promoters time and space to complete their works.

Before any specified works are carried out on a specified street a permit must be obtained from the Permit Authority in accordance with the Permit Scheme.

Under the Permit Scheme, all promoter activities are treated equally with regards to co-ordination and setting of conditions. 

The Permit Authority will actively promote a culture change in attitudes from its own departments that play an important role in the overall network management by:

• Working closely with its own highways contractors to improve working practices
• Forming network management teams to bring together the coordination of all highway's activities including events and highways operations
• Better engagement with Development Control and Planning departments to bring in the structures and processes to the forward planning process to ensure better coordination and delivery of all activities that affect the highway.

2.2 Promoters

It is essential that everyone undertaking activities on the highway take both the Permit Scheme objectives and the broader TMA objective of expediting the movement of traffic into account.  To do this the Authority and the promoter must adhere to four key principles:

• The need to balance the potentially conflicting interests of road users, promoters and their customers
• The importance of close co-operation and liaison between the two parties
• Acknowledgement that pre-planned activities, planned programmes and working practices may have to be adjusted to meet coordination provisions in statutory objectives
• The provision of timely, clear, accurate and complete information.

The Permit Scheme will give the Permit Authority greater influence over how and when activities are carried out although the initial responsibility for planning, supervising and carrying out activities remains with the promoters.

Promoters must consider the needs of public transport operators, pedestrians, motorists, cyclists, horse riders or any other road user paying particular attention to those with disabilities when planning and executing activities on the highway. They should also ensure they have considered and co-ordinated activities with other existing road activities and considered how their proposals will integrate with those and the impact and effect of the operation on the local and strategic highway network.

Some considerations are listed, but not limited to:

• Timing of activities
• The methods of working
• Road safety
• Health and Safety, Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM 2015)
• Noise, light and traffic management
• Activity programme management
• Co-ordination with other promoters.

Proposals should be discussed with other interested parties in advance such as neighbouring Authorities, Network Rail, bus and rail operators, schools, businesses and residents and where necessary modified as appropriate and practical. Other appropriate bodies include but are not limited to those representing disabled people, pedestrian and cycle groups, hauliers, local tourism boards, the Environment Agency and English Heritage.

The greater the disruption the sooner the application should be made, and promoters should recognise that statutory application periods are only a minimum and longer should be given where practicable.

Promoters should also take into account the space needed for the works, the storage of plant and materials and other associated plant such as welfare cabins and car parking areas.  Where this is outside the working area including if on another street, the promoter must consider the impact of this on disruption to traffic, local residents, businesses and the local environment.  These areas may be subject to another permit application and conditions applicable as appropriate to the disruption, road type or network congestion.

2.3 Collaborative Working

The Permit Authority actively encourages collaborative working and will offer fee reductions or waived fees for cooperative working between promoters. However, each promoter should apply for a permit in the normal way in the first instance.

This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Trench sharing
• Concurrent activities on a single street
• Traffic Management sharing
• Multi-promoters sharing road space
• Multi-promoters sharing road closures
• Timing works on nearby streets which affect traffic flow in order to minimise overall effect.

Whilst co-operative working is encouraged it is understood that such arrangements can cause problems with contractual, CDM and other management arrangements but every opportunity should be explored.

Where two or more activity promoters for street activities and activities for road purposes enter into such arrangements, one must take on the role of the primary promoter with the overall responsibility for the activities and will be the point of contact with the Permit Authority.

While the secondary activity promoter(s) will be required to make a permit application for the activity for which they are responsible, only the permit application made by the primary activity promoter will need to show the number of estimated inspection units.

The primary activity promoter's permit application must give details of the other activity promoter(s) involved and the extent of the collaborative working. The primary activity promoter must also ensure that the estimates of the activity duration are agreed and confirmed with the secondary activity promoter(s) when submitting the application.

While the Permit Authority will issue permits to all of the activity promoters involved, not just the primary activity promoter, the fees will be discounted (please refer to Section 12.5) to reflect the collaborative approach, subject to all criteria being met.

The primary activity promoter will excavate the trench and install its own apparatus with the secondary activity promoter(s) installing their apparatus in the same trench. The primary activity promoter will backfill and reinstate the trench unless it has previously been agreed with the Permit Authority and documented by the works promoter via electronic means, that the secondary activity promoter(s) will undertake the reinstatement, in which case the responsibility for the reinstatement will rest with the activity promoter who undertook this reinstatement, although the registration through electronic means for this activity will still have to be submitted by the primary activity promoter.

The other promoters in these circumstances must indicate a "No excavation" status on the Section 74 Work Stop Notice. Notice text within the work stop notice must indicate that reinstatements have been registered by the promoter responsible for the reinstatement.

This process may vary in line with future amendments to the technical specification.

2.4 Forward Planning

Forward planning information on large-scale and potentially disruptive activities should be included in the permits register at the earliest opportunity.  This will enable promoters to:

• Engage in early co-ordination
• Consider joint working
• Consider trench sharing
• Consider other planned activities.

Forward planning information does not remove the need to apply for the appropriate permit at the appropriate time.

2.5 Non-Discrimination: Parity Treatment

A key objective of the Permit Scheme is that it treats all activities covered on an equal basis. The Regulations provide for permit schemes to include both street works by statutory undertakers (as defined in NRSWA) and highway works (as defined in Section 86 (2) of NRSWA) as works for road purposes. Although the term "specified works" is used generically in the Regulations, "activities" is used in the Permit Scheme to encompass both types of works and anticipates subsequent sets of Regulations which may extend the scope of permit schemes to other activities on the street.

Whilst not all activities require a permit, Promoters are strongly recommended to check the Permit Authority street works register to ensure that they are not planning to work at the same time as other activities in that street.

Permits for all qualifying street works and works for road purposes, and all applications (which can only be made by licensed undertakers or Highway Authorities), will be treated in a non-discriminatory way, as required in Regulation 40 of the Regulations. The Highway Authority's activities and their applications will be treated in exactly the same way as those of a licensed undertaker's with regard to co-ordination and the setting of conditions. 

In order to show that the Permit Authority is operating the Permit Scheme in a fair and equitable way each Officer responsible for making any decision related to a permit application be separated from the highway activities of the Authority.