Permit scheme for road works and street works

All streets in category 0, 1 or 2 are designated as traffic sensitive. The fee is applicable for any time and any location within these streets.

£45 for activities on category 0, 1 & 2 streets, and on 3 & 4 traffic sensitive streets.

£35 for activities on category 3 and 4 non traffic sensitive streets.

If a Permit variation moves an activity into a higher fee category, the Promoter will be required to pay the difference in Permit fee.

No fee is payable if a Permit variation is initiated by the Permit Authority.

The fees will not exceed the maximum charges as set by the DFT. All promoters will be notified of any changes to the fees.

The Traffic Management Act, Section 37 (7) and Regulation 30 of The Traffic Management Permit Scheme (England) Regulations 2007 give the Permit Authority the power to charge a fee in respect of the following:

• The application for a PAA in respect of major activities.
• The granting of a permit.
• Each occasion where there is a variation of a permit or the conditions attached.
• Where a permit variation would move an activity into a higher category, the promoter will be required to pay the difference between the permit fee for the two categories as well as the permit variation fee.

The current approved fee level for permits and permit variations, including variation fees, are given in Annex 1 and reflect costs over and above the cost of running the current noticing system.

The income from fees shall not exceed the total allowable costs prescribed in the permit regulations. The allowable costs of the complete scheme and its overall income have to be balanced. This balance can be achieved over several years.

Allowable costs are limited to:

• the proportion of direct costs and overheads attributable to operating the scheme for undertakers
• the element of those costs that are over and above the cost of the authority’s coordination duty under NRSWA

This includes the costs of dealing with:

• activities which required a permit but for which no permit was sought
• proposed activities which would be subject to a permit but which do not lead to an application, for example, activity planning involving the authority which is later abandoned

Overheads can include:

• non-salary staff-related costs such as pensions and benefits
• appropriate allocation of accommodation costs
• appropriate allocation of central services costs
• appropriate share of IT costs (software and hardware)
• general administration and management
• monitoring the permit system and the production of KPIs
• invoicing

The Permit Authority will charge undertakers for the above actions, as per Section 13.9 below.

Fees will not be payable in the following circumstances:

• If the promoter is a Highway Authority in respect of its own works for road purposes, but records of all permits granted and the fees that could have been charged will be kept in order to assist in the review of fees referred to in Section 13.8.
• any Fire and Rescue Service testing on a fire hydrant.
• where a permit is deemed to be granted because the Permit Authority failed to respond to an application within the time set down in Section 9.9.
• If a permit variation is initiated by the Permit Authority, an Authority Imposed Variation, or the authority has to revoke a permit through no fault of the promoter.
• where the promoter has applied for an optional permit (as described in Section 4.2.1).
• where the Activity Promoter has sent a cancellation before the permit has been approved by the Permit Authority

Fee discounts will be given in the following circumstances:

• Where the promoter submits more than one separate PAA or permit application at the same time (or within 3 working days) for activities that are part of the same project but are carried out on more than one street, a discount will applied to each PAA or permit. The term ‘project’ does not cover area-wide activities but activities of a scale that could be carried out in one street, but happen to cover two or more streets.
• Where works are undertaken in collaboration with other works promoters and several promoters are working within the same site submit applications at the same time. The primary promoter will require a permit with full information about the activities, and the other promoters will require a permit so that the authority knows who is working there.
• Where the Highway Authority promoter is collaborating with undertakers, those undertakers will be eligible for the discount.
• Where any Activity on traffic sensitive streets is carried out wholly outside of traffic sensitive times

A discount of 30% will be applied to each permit in the above circumstances.

The Permit Authority has the power to waive or reduce fees at its discretion in other circumstances.

The Permit Authority will review its scale of fees annually to ensure that the overall fee income does not exceed the allowable costs. The outcome of the annual fee reviews will be published and open to public scrutiny.

As far as possible the fees and costs should be matched over a financial year. However, it is recognised that estimating the fee levels will involve incorporating the effect of various factors that will inevitably have a degree of uncertainty around them.

In the event that fees and costs do not match the actual outturn for the year in question, adjustments may be made to fee levels for the subsequent years so that across a number of years fees do not exceed the allowable costs.

The current approved fee level for permits is contained in a separate Permit Scheme Fees Table document available on the Permit Authority’s website.

Fees for permit variation, including variations to conditions, are given above.

• If a permit variation moves an activity into a higher fee category, the promoter must pay the difference in permit fee as well as the permit variation fee.
• The full fee will be charged following a variation and/or if activities are found to be working at traffic sensitive times in a traffic sensitive street.
• No fee is payable if a permit variation is initiated by the Permit Authority.

• Monthly invoices will be issued to each Activity Promoter, with all permits referenced.
• A summary will be issued to each promoter every two weeks so that amounts can be confirmed before the invoice is raised so as to avoid late payments.
• Each promoter is required to provide an email contact to where the summary can be sent.

It is not the intention of the Permit Authority to generate surplus from this Permit Scheme. Income will only be used to cover the cost of administration and operation of the scheme.

The administration of permits obtained on behalf of the Highway Authority do not form part of the fee structure calculation for this Permit Scheme.

The permit fees are based on Officer time and additional operating costs involved in processing street works permit applications and the Permit Authority will review permit and variation fees annually to satisfy themselves that there is no significant variation between the expected income and expenditure.

Following a fees review the fees may be adjusted where either a surplus or deficit exists to ensure that a balance of cost and income is achieved over a number of years.

The outcome of annual fee reviews will be published and open to public scrutiny.