DEVON County Council is to introduce a permit scheme for contractors in an attempt to reduce disruption caused by roadworks such as those currently taking place on Tavistock’s Plymouth Road, writes Sarah Pitt.

From March next year, contractors working on roads across the county will have to apply to the county council highways department for a permit before they start work. There will be a charge for permits, with higher charges for work taking place on major traffic routes.

Discounts will apply if contractors undertake to do things to minimise disruption, such as liaising with each other to work at the same time.

Councillors from West Devon were told about the scheme at a meeting of the West Devon Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HATOC) held at West Devon Borough Council’s offices in Tavistock on November 5.

Assistant project manager Dan Trump, giving the presentation, said the scheme was intended to give the county council more control over roadworks taking place on the county’s roads.

He said that at the moment, the county council has no power to stop contractors going ahead with whatever work they need to do on the highways – or to impose sanctions to get it done efficiently.

‘We propose to bring in a Streetworks permit system which means people will have to apply for a permit if they want to do roadworks,’ he said.

He said the system aimed to ensure that glitches are ironed out in advance and everyone was kept informed.

Hatherleigh and Chagford country councillor James McInnes, welcomed the permit system, saying it might have avoided a situation in Chagford in recent weeks, when it emerged that South West Water were planning work in the town square throughout the whole of the Christmas shopping period.

‘It would have affected traders in the square in what is the most important period in the run up to Christmas,’ he said.

He said the town council had been unaware that the work was planned. Further to discussions of South West Water, the work was being postponed and would now take place with February. He said: ‘I think that once the new system has settled down we will have more control with what goes on with the highways.’

Tavistock county councillor Debo Sellis asked if the current work on Plymouth Road, which she described as ’total gridlock and hell’, would qualify as a ‘traffic sensitive route’ for which more notice is needed. She was told it did. Okehampton Rural county councillor Kevin Ball asked if the permit system would encourage different utility companies to coordinate their work to take place the same time. He said there had been occasions in Okehampton town centre when the permit system would have helped minimise disruption.

’Is this an opportunity for the county council to have that overview and offer some constructive suggestions of how that would happen?’ he asked.

He was told that discounts applied to the permit fee would be given to contractors who worked together to minimise disruption. Highways officer Tony Matthews, also present, said previously it had been difficult for the county council to impose any conditions but this would give them more control in negotiations with contractors. ‘This way they have to apply and we have to approve it and there are costs involved for the amount of time they take, so the sooner they get the work done the less it will cost them.’