Office of Public Sector Information
Clauses 1 to 24 concern the provision of new roads in England and Wales, particularly by way of an agreement with a private sector concessionaire who will design, build, finance and operate the road in return for the right to collect tolls.
Clause 1 defines the term “concession agreement”, requires such agreements to contain certain provisions, and requires the Secretary of State to report to Parliament as to the agreements entered into by him and the roads provided under them. Clause 2 provides that under a concession agreement certain highway functions may be exercised by the concessionaire in place of the highway authority. The highway authority will be able to exercise them only in an emergency, in the interests of safety, or in default. Clause 3 provides for traffic regulation on roads subject to a concession. Clause 4 provides for the leasing of land to the concessionaire and excludes certain statutory restrictions which would otherwise apply. Clause 5 and Schedule 1 make provision for the termination of the concession; where this occurs before the end of the toll period, the highway authority must attempt to let a new concession.
Clauses 6 to 17 concern procedures for authorising and enforcing tolls. Clause 6 enables the Secretary of State to make (or, where the order is made by a local highway authority, confirm) an order authorising a concessionaire or the highway authority to charge tolls on a new road. Schedule 2 sets out the procedure for such orders, which corresponds to, and is to be taken concurrently with, the procedure for authorising the road.
Clause 7 requires a toll order to specify or determine a period within which tolls are chargeable. Clauses 8 and 9 provide for certain toll orders to specify the maximum tolls which may be charged.
Clause 10 brings the provision of a toll road within the scope of fair trading legislation. Clause 11 provides for the variation or revocation of toll orders. Clause 12 provides for the extension of tolling, by the highway authority, beyond the toll period on a road which has been subject to a concession. Clause 13 makes detailed provision for the charging of, and exemptions from, tolls.
Clause 14 empowers the Secretary of State to make regulations with respect to the collection of tolls and lays down a penalty for demanding tolls contrary to the procedures. Clause 15 creates an offence of refusal or failure to pay tolls and authorises a toll collector to refuse passage to a defaulter and, if necessary, remove the vehicle.
Clause 16 provides for the authorisation of facilities for collecting tolls.
Clause 17 prohibits the construction of any highway or private access connecting with a toll road unless the highway authority and (where applicable) the concessionaire consent.
Clause 18 makes minor amendments to the provisions for classification of traffic on special roads under the Highways Act 1980. Clause 19 provides that a special road for which the Secretary of State is highway authority need not necessarily be a trunk road.
Clause 20 enables the Secretary of State to adopt private roads as trunk roads in a single procedure.
Clause 21 reforms and extends the provisions of the Highways Act 1980 relating to the execution by a highway authority of works for which another person is paying.
Clause 22 enables traffic orders to be made before a road is open, so as to come into force immediately on opening.
Clause 23 applies various provisions of the Highways Act 1980 as if this Part were a part of that Act. Clause 24 contains interpretative provisions for Part I.
Clauses 25 to 43 concern the provision of new roads in Scotland and correspond generally to the clauses for England and Wales in Part I of the Bill.
Clause 25 provides a procedure for authorising a roads authority to charge tolls and for tolled roads and associated facilities to be exempt from rates. It also makes certain requirements in respect of contracts for the design and construction of such roads and provides for reports to Parliament by the Secretary of State in respect of such contracts or roads where he is the roads authority. Clause 26 provides for the assignation of rights under a toll order. Clause 27 corresponds to clause 7 and clause 28 to clause 12. Clause 29 provides that unassignable toll orders should specify the maximum tolls that can be charged, but that assignable toll orders should not, except where clause 30 applies: the latter corresponds to clause 8. Clauses 31 and 32 correspond to clauses 10 and 11, and Clause 33 to clause 5.
Clauses 34 to 38 correspond broadly to clauses 13 to 17. Clauses 39 and 40 correspond to clauses 3 and 22. Clauses 41 and 42 correspond to clauses 18 and 19. Clause 43 concerns interpretation and applies provisions of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.
Clauses 44 to 101 concern the reform of the legislation governing the exercise of utilities' powers to undertake street works in England and Wales, principally the Public Utilities Street Works Act 1950. They include additional provision for the co-ordination of works of all kinds in streets.
Clauses 44 to 48 are introductory provisions setting out which streets, works, undertakers and relevant authorities are affected by the provisions of this Part. They include, in clause 46 and Schedule 3, provision for the granting of “street works licences” to permit persons other than those with a statutory right to place and maintain apparatus in streets, and make it an offence to place apparatus or break up streets unless the person had either a statutory right or a street works licence. A new, more tightly drawn, definition of “emergency works”, which is important for the purposes of notification of works, is provided in clause 48.
Clauses 49 to 56 are concerned with the planning and coordination of works. Clause 49 requires each street authority to keep a register of street works in its area, and the following provisions require advance notification of proposed works, provide powers for street authorities to direct the times of working and, where works would cause the greatest disruption to traffic, impose restrictions on works following substantial road works, place a general duty on street authorities to coordinate the execution of works of all kinds in the streets for which they are responsible, and a general duty on undertakers to cooperate.
Clauses 57 to 60 and Schedule 4 allow for the designation by street authorities of streets to be subject to special controls. They include provision for “protected streets” in which the placing of apparatus by undertakers is only allowed with the consent of the street authority, streets with “special engineering difficulties” in which undertakers' works may not be executed until a plan and section has been settled by agreement with the relevant authorities, and “traffic-sensitive” streets in which special requirements as to advance notice may be applied.
Clauses 61 to 65 contain general requirements as to the execution of undertakers' works. They include provision for the proper guarding, lighting and signing of works in progress and the avoidance of unnecessary obstruction of the street. They impose requirements on undertakers executing street works to employ properly qualified supervisors and operatives, to afford facilities to street authorities to inspect works, and to inform others whose apparatus in the street may be affected by the works.
Clauses 66 to 69 deal with the reinstatement of streets by undertakers following the completion of their works. They set out the duties of undertakers as to reinstatement, and in particular requirements as to the materials to be used, standards of workmanship and the performance of reinstatements. The street authority’s power to carry out inspections and investigatory works, and the extent of an undertaker’s responsibility for reinstatements affected by subsequent works, are defined.
Clauses 70 to 74 are financial provisions covering fees and contributions payable by undertakers. Fees may be prescribed for the occupation of maintainable highways by undertakers executing works, for the inspection of works by street authorities, and as contributions to the costs of a street authority in making good long-term damage attributable to undertakers' works. The liability for the cost of temporary traffic regulation measures required in connection with undertakers' works is prescribed, as is the liability of undertakers to indemnify highway authorities for certain works required to strengthen or repair highways used by diverted traffic.
Clauses 75 to 78 set out the duties and liabilities of undertakers with respect to their apparatus in streets, in particular as to the keeping and updating of maps and records, the proper maintenance of their apparatus and the extent of their liability for damage or loss caused by works, bursts or explosions etc.
Clauses 79 to 81 deal with measures required to be taken when undertakers' apparatus is affected by highways works, bridge works or transport works. In the case of more major works, they allow for arrangements to be introduced to avoid undue delay and for sharing the costs of taking necessary measures between the authority promoting the works and the undertakers whose apparatus is affected by them.
Clauses 82 to 89 are provisions which affect particular authorities and undertakings. They include definitions, a procedure for the treatment of streets likely to become maintainable highways, requirements on undertakers executing works which affect bridges or sewers, and special precautions to be taken when carrying out works which affect the property of transport undertakings.
Clause 90 provides a power for street authorities or district councils to undertake street works.
Clauses 91 to 101 and Schedule 5 are supplementary provisions setting out for this Part the treatment of offences, the basis for recovery of costs and expenses, the method of service of notices and other documents, and the manner of reckoning periods, and providing for the determination of disputes by arbitration. There is provision that agreements or enactments regulating the execution of street works shall not operate inconsistently with this Part, and there are further definitions with an index of defined expressions.
New Roads and Street Works Act 1991