Contents

1. Introduction
2. Developing the permit scheme
3. Permit scheme objectives
4. Permit scheme performance summary
5. Key performance indicators
6. Second year issues
7. Permit fee income
8. Costs budgets and actuals
9. Average permit cost
10. Conclusion
11. Looking forward
12. Permit scheme performance data
13. Permit scheme year 3

1. Introduction

Permit Schemes provide a way to manage activities on the public highway and were introduced by Part 3 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) to improve authorities’ ability to minimise disruption and inconvenience from street and road works.

This Evaluation report is for the ‘Oxfordshire Permit Scheme for Road Works and Street Works’ or within this document as ‘the Permit Scheme’.

The Permit scheme is constructed in accordance with the following legislative framework. Highway Authority Permit Schemes were introduced by Part 3 (sections 32 to 39) of the Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) and are regulated in England by the Traffic Management Permit Scheme (England) Regulations 2007 (the 2007 regulations).

The Deregulation Act 2015 removed in England the requirement for permit schemes to be approved by the Secretary of State. It amended the TMA enabling highway authorities in England to make their own schemes and to vary or revoke existing schemes. Amendments made by the Deregulation Act 2015 and the Infrastructure Act 2015 also enable Highways England to make permit schemes in relation to highways for which it is responsible. The 2007 Regulations have been amended by the Traffic Management Permit Scheme (England) (Amendment) Regulations2015(S.I.2015/958) to reflect changes made by the Deregulation Act 2015 and other changes to the operation of permit schemes.

The amended regulations applied to all new schemes from 30 June 2015 and will apply to all existing schemes from 1 October 2015. Under section 33(5) of the TMA highway Authorities preparing a permit scheme are also required to have regard to Statutory Guidance issued by the Secretary of State. In this Statutory Guidance “must” has been used to refer to a statutory requirement. “Should” is used where the Department for Transport strongly recommends specific action is taken. Where “may” is used it refers to those things a highway authority will want to consider in the development of a scheme and as part of its own approval process. In developing and operating a permit scheme, authorities must comply with the TMA and the 2007 Regulations.

2. Developing the permit scheme

The Oxfordshire Permit Scheme is based on the feasibility study undertaken by Oxfordshire County Council, which reviewed current Permit Schemes and options utilised across England since 2010. Following consideration of local needs, discussions with internal stakeholders, operational partners, consultants, and neighboring Highway Authorities the West Sussex & Cambridgeshire County Permit Schemes structure was chosen as the base for the Oxfordshire documents.

Amendments were made to the West Sussex & Cambridgeshire County Permit Scheme documents to ensure their best fit with the County of Oxfordshire. Options were put before the Oxfordshire County Council Member for Environment in April 2019, who supported a recommendation for developing a permit scheme and decided that the most appropriate scheme for Oxfordshire is one that would operate on all streets. It was considered that this would be best to meet the Council’s objectives in support of its network management duty.

The Permit Scheme was developed around the notion of behaviour change and the need to manage all activities within a consistent, transparent, and collaborative framework. Part of the schemes overall aim is to drive change through innovation and the Council is keen to explore the role of incentives within the scheme to try and move the innovation agenda forward. The Council is keen to work with stakeholders to try and develop an innovation model which can provide real change.

The Permit Scheme has been developed to assist the Council in managing the existing local road network for the benefit of all road users. The Permit Scheme supports existing activities and priorities of the Council providing positive benefit. The Scheme also encourages the undertakers, including those working for and on behalf of the Highway Authority to work in collaboration.

The Permit Scheme has been operationally and proactively focused on the Major Road Network and to further the overall cultural shift to better management of the network. However, co-ordination of all activities on all streets will be undertaken to deliver effective and proactive management of the entire network and consider the needs of all highway users and stakeholders such as local community bus operators.

3. Permit scheme objectives

Any activity undertaken in a street has the potential to cause disruption and can reduce the width of the street available to traffic, pedestrians, and other users, also inconvenience businesses and residents. The scale of disruption caused is relative to the type of activities being undertaken, the capacity of the street, the duration and timing of the works and the methods employed to carry them out. Works on those streets where the traffic flow is close to, or exceeds, the physical capacity of the street will have greatest potential to cause congestion, disruption, and delays.

The objective of the TMA and therefore this permit scheme is to enable the management of the traffic network to ensure expeditious movement of traffic (including pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users) as required under the TMA Network Management Duty. 2.4. The Permit Scheme is intended to enable more effective co-ordination and to empower the Local Highway Authority (Permit Authority) to minimise disruption from both street and highway works.

The strategic objective for the Permit Scheme is to provide a capability to manage and maintain the local highway network for the safe and efficient use of road space, whilst allowing Promoter’s access to maintain their services and assets, including installing new connections.  The principle of the Permit Scheme is to improve the planning, scheduling, and management of activities so that they do not cause unnecessary traffic disruption to any road user. It will help Oxfordshire County Council meet their network management duty under the TMA. Co-ordination of activities through the Permit Scheme will enable differences between those competing for space or time in the street, including traffic, to be resolved in a positive and constructive way.

The sub-objectives of the Oxfordshire Permit Scheme are:

• To manage proactively the local highway network to maximise the safe and efficient use of road space.
• To improve the quality and timeliness of information and compliance with highway legislation from all Activity Promoters.
• To improve the information available to the public to help provide and inform reliable journey times.
• To manage road works and street works to support public transport (including buses) reliability and punctuality.
• To ensure the safety of those using the street and those working on activities that fall under the scheme.
• To protect the structure of the street and the integrity of the apparatus in it.
• To ensure parity of treatment for all Activity Promoters particularly between Statutory Undertakers and Highway Authority Promoters works and activities.

The Permit Scheme objectives align with the strategies and themes of the latest Oxfordshire Local Transport Plan which include:

• Supporting growth and economic vitality Oxfordshire suffers from congestion and several roads are already approaching capacity during peak hours. If Oxfordshire is to secure its place as a world-class economy, that attracts international investment, the County’s transport links need to be managed as efficiently as possible, to prove that Oxfordshire is connected to Britain’s wider economy.
• Reducing emissions, The County Council is committed to achieving its Air Quality targets, however these cannot be realised if traffic is not managed.
• Improving quality of life Through this scheme, the County Council can influence when and for how long works are undertaken and this will minimise disruption and inconvenience which will help to improve the quality of life for the people of Oxfordshire.

4. Permit scheme performance summary

During the second year of operation 28,710 permit applications were received from Utility Promoters and Highway Authority Promoters.  This total includes applications that were granted but subsequently cancelled by the Promoter before the works were undertaken.

83% of Permit applications are from Utility companies.

25,948 Permits were granted which is 90% of applications.

1,707 Permits were refused for various reasons which is 6% of applications. This is a twofold increase from the first year of operation

The Permit team can refuse a Permit application when they consider that elements of the application (e.g., timing, location, or conditions) are not acceptable. More Permits being refused could indicate that the operation of the permitting team has been more proactive in its approach to Network Management using the powers vested to Oxfordshire County Council by legislation to improve coordination efforts and reduce disruption.

High numbers of refused permits can also be an indicator of low quality in permit applications being received by Oxfordshire County Council.

11,014 change requests were received with 881 change requests being refused.

This number of change request supports the consideration that initial permit application quality has been lower than hoped.

A high number of change requests puts extra workload on the permitting team and will require consideration by the team on how to best manage this going forward.

170 permit applications were registered as deemed but did not affect coordination.  These permits were opened and closed by works promoters within a few minutes.  This equates to less than 1% of the permit applications received and is an indicator that he Oxfordshire County Council Permit Scheme is being operated efficiently and with due regard to legislation and codes of practice.

There were 260 occasions of collaborative working. The days saved from this approach has totalled 803. This is a valuable achievement by the team. At an average cost of works of £600 per day at 2002 prices the societal saving equates to £481,800.

5. Key performance indicators

Every authority wishing to implement a permit scheme is required to indicate how they intend to demonstrate parity of treatment for Promoters in its application. The DfT’s Statutory Guidance for Highway Authority Permit Schemes contains seven KPIs, which may be used for this purpose. These KPIs may be amended, removed, or replaced by future amendments to Permit Regulations.

The Permit Scheme will always endeavour to follow the latest KPI requirements with these KPI’s applying to both Road Works and Street Works.  Such KPIs may be redeveloped by the DfT and/or HAUC (England) and Statutory Guidance may be subject to change from time to time.

The Permit Scheme will be evaluated after each of the first 3 years, then 3-yearly after that. Evaluations these will be made available within 3 months of the yearly date on which the Permit Scheme came into effect. The evaluation shall include consideration of:

• Whether the fee structure needs to be changed considering any surplus or     deficit
• The costs and benefits (whether financial) of operating the scheme; and
• Whether the Permit Scheme is meeting key performance indicators where these are set out in the document
• The outcome of each evaluation shall be made available to the persons referred to in regulation 3(1) within three months of the relevant anniversary. ks. KPI results will be

6. Second-year issues

Difficulties during the second year of operation have been in 4 key areas.

1. Senior staff changes.
2. Ongoing gradual staff recruitment, in team training and supervisory capacity.
3. Shortage of operational staff to undertake appropriate Street Works and Permit Scheme inspections and compliance checks on permit applications received.
4. The IT system’s ability to produce reports consistent with the industry’s agreed indicators and measures.

The IT System currently being used by the team is the DfT’s Street Manager, which is still under development with a currently limited range of system reports with which to evaluate permit scheme performance. There is an intention to develop standardised reports within Street Manager that the industry can use, and these will be utilised for future Permit Scheme evaluations when they become available.

7. Permit fee income

£1,490,233 of Permit and Permit Variation fee income was received.

8. Costs budgets and actuals

Following the first year of operation Oxfordshire County Council were better placed to understand the workload and expectations placed upon the Street Works team in operation of the budgets were maintained.  

Following the deficit in income made in the first year of operation permit fees were increased in an endeavour to balance the costs incurred against the fees charged.  Although it must be noted that fees charged are directly affected by operational decisions of Utility companies and this dictates that some level of caution must always be adopted when considering expected incomes and budget setting for the Oxfordshire Permit Scheme.

Second year operational costs were £1,476,304

The second operational year for the Permit Scheme has generated a surplus in fee income of £13,929 comparative to costs incurred. 

This is within 1% of the income received and shows that the scheme is operating within a balanced budget and no consideration of amending the permit fees charged is needed at this time.

9. Average permit cost

By dividing the number of Utility Permits granted by the Permit Scheme cost an average cost per Permit can be calculated.

This is a useful indicator of the general scheme costs to Utilities and can be compared to other schemes to show a general financial efficiency level.

10. Conclusions

This report provides evaluation findings of key indicators and measures for the Permit Scheme after its Second year of operation.

Overall, the Permit Scheme implementation has continued to be work within legislative boundaries and has sought to offer network management benefits such as encouraging collaborative works and considering the vast majority of permit applications within set time periods.  Permit application and change request numbers have increased from the first year of operation and Oxfordshire County Council will monitor this in future end of year reports to ensure the permitting team is adequately resourced and supported.

The team consistently co-ordinate all road and street works in Oxfordshire and take the time to review each and every application and applying conditions that minimise the impact of the works on the users of the network.

Fee income was slightly higher than costs incurred but the margin of variance being less than 1% indicates the scheme can be considered cost neutral. indicates a well-run and financially balanced scheme operates in Oxfordshire

There are still some difficulties gathering accurate data from the IT system, and it is hoped that this will improve considerably in future years as further development of Street Manager occurs.  However, what has been gathered shows the objectives of the scheme are being met and that society is benefiting from the ongoing operation of the Permit Scheme.

Collaborative works have increased in number year on year which is a very challenging objective to achieve.

The Permit team and Promoters will continue to work together and make improvements to minimise the impact of works on the highway network.

Discounts on Utility fees for positive working arrangements have been applied successfully and will continue to be encouraged by the Permit Scheme staff.

Works are being Permitted and co-ordinated effectively and this has resulted in the network being managed to the best of the team’s ability with the tools available to them.

The work of the permitting team has led to better control of the network and of the works undertaken on it, as demonstrated by the data contained in this report.

11. Looking forward

The Permit Scheme will continue to maintain its effectiveness over the following years with a focus on ten key areas.

• An assessment of staffing levels to ensure appropriate and adequate resources are available to meet the demands of the permitting function taking account of the increased number of permits and change requests.
• Continue work to ensure the Street Works function ensures site-based activities maximise their Network Coordination efforts and fully support the permit scheme.
• Consider a Lane Rental Scheme for the County to further reduce works durations.
• Continue to support the development of the DfT’s Street Manager project that will hopefully lead to improved data recording, reporting and standardisation across the Street Works industry.
• Support industry reviews of legislation such as the consideration of fees and charges levied for permit charges and fines providing reports and comments as required.
• Continuing staff training and development.
• Monitoring of Utility discounts given and the behavioural changes that have resulted so the impact can be assessed.
• How the Permit Team can support other initiatives within the Highway Department such as programmes to assess the level of compliance with Specification of the Reinstatement of Openings in Highways (SROH).
• Street Works management will continue their drive to maximise efficiencies and identify any areas for improvement or development in Network Coordination.

12. Permit scheme performance data

The following table show the breakdown of this permit data into works promoter, permit status and or reasons for refusal by the street works team.  Works promoters submitting less than 100 permit applications (which equates to one third of a percentage point of the total permit applications submitted) within the report period are excluded from the table due to the volume of promoter data under review for this period.

13. Permit Scheme Year 3

From an operational point of view Oxfordshire County Council will continue to monitor procedures involved with the processing of permits and bring forward further improvements. The increased numbers of permits and change requests has resulted in extra workload and pressure on the coordination team and this will be closely monitored

Further consideration of network management improvements will continue with a review of Lane Rental powers having indicated that this would be of benefit to Oxfordshire County Council in fulfilling their Network Management Duty.

If a Lane Rental Scheme is developed careful consideration and planning will be required to ensure the scheme supports the permitting function and the necessary actions of all works promoters who undertake activities in Oxfordshire.