This request is to find out how much compensation you have received from utilities for their shortcomings, when they have carried out roadworks on your highways.
Please note, the County Council does not receive ‘compensation’ from utilities for their ‘shortcomings’ after carrying out street works on its network. Charges may be levied for works which over-run without authorisation Fixed Penalty Charge Notices can be issued for offences including working with no permit, failing to give notice of prolonged works, a breach of permit conditions and failing to give notice of completed reinstatements.
1. This could be when they haven’t told you they have closed a road, or have told you late, or their roadworks have over run. How much money have you fined them over the last three financial years and which companies have had to pay the most?
Street works by ‘statutory undertakers’ (utilities companies) requires a permit. A permit application is made to the County Council as the ‘street authority’ for assessment prior to being approved or rejected.
The permit scheme provides ‘validity periods’ for street works to allow minor adjustments which includes a utility starting works later but still ensuring completion within the agreed timescale.
For the last three complete financial years, over-running street works charges have been as follows:
2021/22 £14,550
2022/23 £26,850
2023/24 £270,050
In no particular order, the utility companies paying the most in respect of over-run charges to the County Council over the last three complete financial years were National Grid, Southwest Water, Openreach and Wales & West Utilities.
2. Have you fined any companies, who have broken the rules, in the Chudleigh & Teign valley ward?
Compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. The location of fines (Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN)) are not broken down by ‘Ward.’ We can only search on a specific location and the accuracy of the results returned completely depends on what a promoter uses as a location in their permit application. Between the 1st January 2024 and the 31st December 2024, there were 780 FPN’s issued. It would take an officer between 5 and10 minutes to check each of the fine locations to identify if that location was in the Chudleigh/Teign Valley Ward. This would total between 65 and 130 hours just for the 2024 period.
Under the Act, there is a duty to provide advice and assistance as to how a request can be refined to fit within the appropriate limit. Unfortunately, due to the way the data is held, this is not possible for this request.
3. Also how much compensation have you received from utilities when you have had to put right their workmanship?
In such circumstances, the law does not allow for ‘compensation’ to be paid to the County Council If a works site is defected by a street authority, remedial action is required by the promoter within agreed timescales. If a promoter fails to rectify a defect the street authority undertakes the work and recharges the utility its costs.
Over the last three years the County Council has not had to undertake such activity and recharge a utility
4. Finally has this money been passed across to the local communities, who have been most disrupted, or has it gone into the coffers at County Hall?
Charges levied from fixed penalties and works over-runs support the Highways and overall County Council budgets which includes the ‘Locality Budget Allocation’ passed on to County Councillors to spend in their Wards.