Roadworks action demanded
BAA CHAIRMAN Sir Nigel Rudd has added his name to a list of nine signatories to a letter urging the government to stop dragging its feet on roadworks policy in London.
The letter, sent out by the office of London Major Boris Johnson, was today delivered to transport secretary Philip Hammond and warns that there is still too much disruption on the capital’s roads caused by roadworks with just two years to go until the Olympic games.
The letter calls on the government to speed up its consultation on roadworks disruption and to get on with a consultation on lane rental that was meant to begin in July.
It says that Hammond should “urgently approve regulations that would mean utility companies could be charged for digging up the capital’s busiest roads at the busiest times”.
Automobile Association president Edmund King has also signed the initiative. He said: “84 per cent of Londoners back tougher penalties for utility companies that dig up the roads without permission. An efficient lane rental system would concentrate the minds on cash and reduce the capital’s cones, chaos and congestion.”
The letter claims that roadworks cost London £1bn per year and are at the root of 38 per cent of the city’s traffic jams. Data from public.londonworks.gov.uk shows that there have been 22 active roadworks causing disruption in the City of London in the last two weeks alone.
The other signatories to the letter include Jules Pipe, the chairman of London councils, Sue Terpilowski of the Federation of Small Businesses, and James Drummond, chief executive and president of Invensys Rail.