Leadent featured in Utility Week - 01.06.2007
This article originally appeared in Utility Week on 1st June 2007.
Companies count cost of Traffic Act
Almost half of UK water companies put the cost of complying with the Traffic Management Act 2004 at between £1 million and £5 million. The same percentage said they were unsure where the money would come from, according to a survey by consultancy Leadent.
Section 4 of the Traffic Management Act (TMA) comes into effect later this year and will introduce fixed penalty notices for non-compliance, stricter directions and restrictions on streetworks and highway authority permit schemes.
Over half of the companies surveyed admitted they were still struggling with existing, less onerous, legislation, and although all companies had TMA compliance programmes under way, 90 per cent were behind schedule.
“Water companies cannot afford to fail to comply with the TMA”, said Leadent director Richard Hawthorn. “It will cost a lot more if they are hit by fines. Water companies need to make compliance more of a priority.”
Just over a third of companies said they would ask Ofwat to allow them to ask for extra funding from customers to cover the cost of compliance with the TMA, and Leadent also warned that the act’s impact on customer service could have “far-reaching consequences for utilities because of the effect this could have on meeting regulatory targets”.