WET News

COMMENT "Lane rental means a shift towards working unsociable hours" ROBIN HACKETT, DEPUTY EDITOR, WET NEWS APRIL "Brexit will exacerbate existing tensions within a tightening UK labour market... It is all the more important that skills policy is aligned across all four UK nations to achieve UK-wide workforce agility and resilience" Energy & Utility Skills chief executive Nick Ellins on the 'Unifi ed Skills Policy for a Truly United Kingdom' white paper "A number of water companies appear to have fallen well short on their forward planning and the quality of support and communication they've been providing, leaving some customers high and dry" Ofwat's Rachel Fletcher before the regulator announced a review into the handling of the severe weather conditions "Investing in new talent and building skills within the existing workforce is crucial for our industry" NM Group chief executive John Homer on the £500K investment in training and development over the next 12 months £196M Balfour Beatty's underlying pro t from operations more than doubled in its 2017 results, having been £69M in 2016 £30M Transport for London's estimated overall annual bene t of the lane rental scheme to London. "There are still far too many serious pollution incidents which damage the local environment, threaten wildlife and, in the worst cases, put the public at risk" Environment Agency chair Emma Howard Boyd calls for tougher penalties on pollution incidents 20,000 The number of London homes that suŠ ered supply problems following the 'Beast from the East' T he government's lane rental scheme is a divisive issue. Everyone I spoke to who stands to be a• ected had strongly held views on the decision to roll it out nationwide, although few showed much appetite to go on the record. Water companies and contractors, predictably, have little positive to say about it on the whole. For local authorities, existing permit schemes already provided the powers to impose conditions on streetworks, including timings, but the ability to charge up to £2,500 a day to rent a lane adds another weapon to their armoury in the battle to reduce traƒ c disruption – particularly given that the surplus funds must be designated for further road disruption measures. Who exactly will foot the bill for the charges remains to be seen. The government predicted that utilities would pass on costs to the customer, and many of the people I spoke to felt that would be the case, but K M Plant Hire's Murray Ambler-Shattock is convinced that it is the contractors who will ultimately bear the worst of the lane rental charges and makes a convincing case. Whether or not contractors face signi‹ cant added costs, though, lane rental will be a signi‹ cant issue as, at the very least, they will be caught up in the shiŒ towards working unsociable hours, which Ambler-Shattock described as an "absolute nightmare". Despite his passionate views, he did not respond to the government's lane rental consultation. In fact, of the 145 responses to the government's lane rental consultation, only ‹ ve were contractors. While local highway authorities (57) and utility companies (32) predictably responded in the greatest numbers, contractors represented the smallest group, behind members of the public (27), public sector organisations (8) and those who responded on behalf of another organisation or stakeholder (16). Bob Gallienne, whose Street Works UK trade association represents a huge number of contractors, told me he is unsure why they did not respond in big numbers but that the majority "de‹ nitely" agree with his views and that "they maybe felt that we were responding for them". Ambler- Shattock certainly said that he had preferred to leave it K M Plant Hire's representatives, saying: "We don't wander in there on our account – we're not politicians. All we can do is provide meaningful information that then gets included in the pot." In any case, whether more vocal opposition might have halted the scheme seems doubtful. And, if a drop in traƒ c disruption follows lane rental when it comes into e• ect nationwide, which is expected to be towards the end of next year, the government – and the general public – is likely to view it as a success. To read more about lane rental, head to P8. IN A NUTSHELL A nglian Water has award- ed a contract to Lanes Group plc to deliver non- routine ‹ rst-time resolution sewer unblocking services. The service is designed to give Anglian Water assurance that it can draw on additional sewer-cleaning capacity when and where it is needed most, for example in relation to ¡ uctua- tions in demands on the sewer system. Lanes already provides sewer jetting, wet well cleaning and CCTV drainage survey ser- vices for Anglian Water, along with a wastewater tankering service, both delivered from a utilities service hub in St Neots, Cambridgeshire. The contract, which runs until 31 March 2020, will be ¥ Anglian Water expands Lanes agreement with contract until 2020 Lanes gets non-routine sewer service contract with Anglian managed from the St Neots ser- vice hub, but Anglian Water will be able to draw on resources from all Lanes depots in the region, including ones at Swa¦ am in Norfolk and Rain- ham in Essex. Lanes Group development director Richard Leigh said: "We're delighted to be providing Anglian Water with this very important additional service. "With weather becoming more volatile and demands on the WNS growing due to popula- tion growth, and a range of other factors, it is essential that utilities can draw ¡ exibly on additional wastewater services. "Our aim will be to provide a highly agile reactive service that can respond rapidly to high priority and emergency sewer cleansing tasks where and when they are needed most. "I am sure our positive ser- vice relationship with Anglian Water, combined with our highly trained and experienced personnel, and modern special- ist drainage ¡ eet, will ensure we can do a very good job." Under the ‹ rst-time resolu- tion sewer unblocking service, Lanes will be providing block- age clearance services on pub- lic and transferred sewers, and emergency CCTV "look-see" drainage surveys, if needed. The contract also gives Anglian Water additional capacity to cleanse highway drains, carry out planned pre- ventative maintenance and seek help with one-o• sewer projects if needed. means a shift towards working 2 WET NEWS APRIL 2018 | wwtonline.co.uk LowPro Road Plates by Oxford Plastics: The only alternative to steel plates. Work smarter, not harder. • Rapid 2 person installation • Quieter, last longer & lighter • Drop pins reduce lateral movement • Suitable for 44T vehicles Tel: +44(0)1608 678888 Email: sales@oxfordplastics.com www.oxfordplastics.com Find Road Plates at UWL Booth D38

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