WET News

ANALYSIS Rental guidance peak-time disruption on busy roads through planning, coordina- tion and innovative thinking. In practice, while there is scope to coordinate with fellow promoters when the opportunity arises, it means a far greater reliance on working outside business hours. "I think it's just another way of getting money out of a utility for doing work," one water company source tells WET News. "At the end of the day, working at night is going to cost us more money than working during the day." The government said the increased costs for utility compa- nies are likely to be passed on to utility customers, and the source adds: "I appreciate it's all about minimising the impact for custom- ers, but if you told a customer their bill was going to go up as a result, I'm pretty sure they'd say: 'No, we're happy to sit in traffic for a little bit longer actually.'" Gallienne says one cost model suggested there could be "£300 million of extra costs across the country which would filter through to the consumer". Ambler-Shattock, though, is not convinced that customers will bear the worst of the costs, with • While lane rental may be popular with many, Robin Hackett hears why the majority of utilities and contractors are fiercely opposed to the scheme T he government's lane rental scheme has been celebrated by politicians, the motoring sector and the general public after trials in London and Kent offered indications of improvements to traffic disruption. When the gov- ernment launched a consultation last year, local highway authorities predictably responded in large numbers to show their support. A system that allows authori- ties to charge up to £2,500 per day for 'renting' a lane for streetworks during peak hours was always likely to be popular in many quar- ters, and it will now be rolled out nationwide, with the first due to be put into operation at the end of next year. 8 WET NEWS APRIL 2018 | wwtonline.co.uk contractors liable to pay for any- thing in excess of the initial sched- uled work. "We're a tier two at the moment so we're working with the tier ones as primaries," he says. "The principal contractor will supply a contract that says: 'You're doing it, how you're doing it is your prob- lem, we're not interested in any further costs.' "You have a choice as a However, as the government noted in its consultation, utilities have been almost universally opposed, and while contractors did not respond in significant numbers, there is little reason to expect there would have been much support from their side either. Bob Gallienne – chief executive of Street Works UK, which repre- sents utilities and their contractors – says he considers the scheme to be completely unnecessary. "If highway authorities exer- cised their powers fully and cor- rectly through permit schemes, you don't need lane rental," he says. Gallienne believes the reason only five of the 145 responses to the consultation came directly from contractors was that the majority put their opposition across through representative bod- ies such as his own. Murray Ambler-Shattock, stra- tegic operations manager at K M Plant Hire & Groundworks Ltd, suggests that may well be the case. His company had no direct input because, as he puts it, "we're not politicians" but, having had some exposure to the London pilot scheme, his opposition is clear, and he believes contractors are "all pretty much of the same mind". Ambler-Shattock says: "It's obviously one of those scenarios that was dreamed up by someone who's never worked in civils who thinks everyone is lounging around, sipping a cup of tea and taking far too long to do every thing. "As per usual with these things, anybody who vents any kind of reasoned opinion from the per- spective of the contractor is seen as a whinger, whereas in reality the scheduling time for a lot of these jobs is inadequate." In theory, lane rental means the 'promoters' who carry out street- works are incentivised to minimise Street Works UK's Bob Gallienne says lane rental is unnecessary

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