Derbyshire County Council fines utility companies £60,000 for roadworks breaches

A Derbyshire council has fined utility companies more than £60,000 for hundreds of roadworks breaches – including not manually operating temporary traffic lights.

Data from Derbyshire County Council, obtained via a Freedom of Information request filed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, shows the authority has issued 1,363 roadworks fines to utility companies in the past three years.

This has raised £64,860 for fines for roadworks transgressions such as scheduled works overrunning by several days longer than permitted, not manually operating temporary traffic lights, not displaying permits and registering for works late.

Severn Trent, Full Fibre and the National Grid are the three main culprits for roadworks fines with 451, 379 and 169 fines respectively in the past three years.

Of the 379 fines issued to Full Fibre, 372 were handed out in just one year – between April 2022 and March 2023.

Fines were handed out to a total of 26 different utility companies.

These are the top 10 companies listed in order of number of fines received:

• Severn Trent Water – 451
• Full Fibre – 379
• National Grid – 169
• Cadent Gas – 101
• BT – 95
• NexiFibre Networks – 35
• Virgin Media – 26
• Gigaclear – 24
• Electricity North West & South Staffs Water & United Utilities Water – 11
• Connect Fibre – 10

The specific roadworks which received the most fines and penalties, in order of financial payments owed from lowest to highest were:

• United Utilities Water works in Whaley Bridge in December 2023 (failures to supply temporary bus stops)
• Severn Trent Water works in Eastmoor in November 2022 (overrunning by a day, not displaying permit, working without a permit and not manually controlling temporary traffic lights)
• Severn Trent Water works in Alfreton in July 2024 (not manually controlling temporary traffic lights for several days)
• Severn Trent Water works in Derby in October 2024 (overrunning dates by 16 hours, extension request received late and temporary traffic lights left after schedule)
• Severn Trent Water works in Holymoorside in October 2022 (overrunning by three days, not reinstating road edge line, working without permit, sweeping of road required and seeding of verges)

Fines for roadworks breaches currently range from £500 and for overrunning works of £5,000 per day and £10,000 per day from day four onwards.

The Government is currently considering stretching overrunning fines to also cover weekends and to increase condition breaches to a maximum of £1,000.

This comes after Chris Henning, the county council’s executive director of place (which includes highways) told a scrutiny meeting earlier this year: “The fines have a limit in favour of developers, they are very permissive to utility companies. There is an incentive to do and be damned. 

“I don’t deny it, we can probably get better at this. We need to make use of our powers.”

Cllr Charlotte Hill, county council cabinet member for potholes, highways and transport, said: “The utility companies do cause a lot of disruption across Derbyshire’s road network, as they need to be able to get to their equipment under the roads to deliver the services we all rely on.

“Sometimes they need to dig up the roads in an emergency, which we do understand. But most planned work requires them to book time in with us to do so, and we try to avoid disruption as much as possible. 

“When they do not adhere to the times they have agreed they need to be held accountable, which is where the national system of fines comes in. 

“We do not set the levels of fees, as this is something the Government sets nationally.

“We are currently investigating new technology which could help us to enforce fines more accurately, which in turn should deter utility companies from causing excess disruption on the Derbyshire Road network.”

A Severn Trent spokesperson said: “We understand how frustrating roadworks and traffic lights can be, but they are needed to keep our staff and the public safe while we carry out vital works and investment upgrades to keep water flowing to customers across Derbyshire.

Between September 2022 and this month, we issued 36,462 street work permits in the Derbyshire County Council area and received 445 fixed penalty notices, with a third of those disputed or withdrawn. 

“This means that less than one per cent (0.83 per cent) of permits resulted in a financial penalty, but we are constantly improving our process to reduce these further.”

A Full Fibre spokesperson said: “At FullFibre, we are committed to minimising disruption whilst delivering essential digital infrastructure that will benefit residents and businesses across Derbyshire for years to come.

“Civil engineering works, particularly those involving underground fibre optic installation, can be complex and subject to various factors beyond our immediate control. 

“We work closely with local authorities to plan our works carefully and minimise impact on residents. 

“When delays do occur, we endeavour to communicate promptly with both the council and affected communities. We also continuously review our processes to improve project management and reduce the likelihood of overruns.

“We understand that temporary traffic management, including traffic lights, can cause inconvenience, and we are committed to ensuring these are operated as efficiently as possible whilst maintaining safety standards.

“FullFibre is dedicated to working collaboratively with Derbyshire County Council and local communities to deliver this vital infrastructure upgrade whilst minimising disruption wherever possible.”

A National Grid Electricity Distribution spokesperson said: “We react quickly to resolve issues with roadworks when they’re reported by DCC. 

“We know roadworks are never ideal, particularly when they go on for longer than planned, and are committed to working closely with DCC to improve performance in the future as we maintain and upgrade the county’s electricity network.”