Firms under fire over road repair

Three big utility companies have come under fire from Shropshire highway chiefs for failing to properly repair county roads after digging them up.

Inspections revealed that Open Reach, National Grid Gas and Central Networks were "performing poorly", says a report to county council watchdogs. But a fourth large utility company - Severn Trent Water - which also carries out many road works, has escaped criticism.

During the last year there were just more than 12,000 excavations carried out on roads in Shropshire and the county council's co-ordination team carried out 2,480 sample inspections.

"It is clear that improvement is required in the overall performance of three utility companies," says the report.

"It has been our approach to work together with the utility, to engage with them, discuss the issues, and then seek improvement together."

The report says that Open Reach has provided information where work is undertaken by an "identified poor performing sub-contractor" and these sites are being inspected more frequently.

National Grid Gas is looking at how it defines the thickness of road reinstatements and to ensure the correct information is provided to site teams.

Central Networks has developed an action plan including increased internal inspections and has set up a new management structure.

But the report says that since discussions were held on August 2 with Central Networks, there have been four separate instances of poor co-operation and licensing which have given cause for "serious concerns."

They are reported as:

Bank Farm Road, Shrewsbury. Works starting when specific instructions given not to.

Welsh Bridge, Shrewsbury. Unacceptable reinstatement which means that additional visits to what is a "sensitive site" will be necessary.

Holly Bush Road, Bridgnorth. Temporary traffic lights were used without any licence application being made to the county council.

Coton Hill, Shrewsbury. Working during an embargo period when specifically instructed not to.

This created "conflict" with road closures for street theatre.

The report is being presented to members of the county council's economy and environment scrutiny panel meeting on Thursday.

It concludes: "Shropshire County Council's co-ordination team will continue to monitor the performance of all utilities and to ensure that agreed actions are followed through."