Transco slams lane rentals as too expensive

Utilities contractor Transco has slammed the government's attempt to introduce lane rentals as costly and ineffective.
Speaking at the recent Road and Streetworks in London - Time for Change conference in London, Transco network director Ed Bannock told delegates that Camden City Council's pilot programme for charging contractors for lane usage had cost the group between £200m and £450m for gas works since the pilot started in March last year.
A similar scheme is being trialed in Middlesbrough.
"It's a myth that lane rentals will reduce costs and improve efficiency," said Bannock.
"These costs are eventually going to be passed down to the customer and could increase their bills if this pilot is rolled out nationally. I think the public would prefer a five-minute delay to their journey because of road works."
Bannock said better co-ordination with highways authorities, penalties for members not attending regular meetings on developments on the highways, and increasing the number of highway authorities that use electronic notification systems for works, instead of relying on paper methods, would improve performance.
Bannock also called for more consistency between authorities after he revealed that Transco incurred massive costs after it was forced to carry out highways work at night only to discover a few weeks later that road access during the day had been agreed for other firms.