On Tuesday I have Place Scrutiny Committee at Devon County Council. An item on the agenda is about the work of the utility companies and the damage they do to our roads. The utility companies appear unable or unwilling to repair the highway to a satisfactory standard after they have dug it up to undertake repair work to their services. Four utility companies are regularly monitored by DCC, BT; SWW;West and Wales Utilities (WW) and Western Power Distribution. BT and WW are by some distance the worst of the four. One can’t help but think that the management is more concerned with their shareholders profit margins than the reinstatement of our roads. Poor workmanship means that the Council Tax payer all too often is left to either foot the bill for road repairs where the utility company has failed or watch helplessly as the local road deteriorates still further.
This is totally unacceptable, and two or three years back when we last had a report on this shoddy level of performance, I suggested that our MPs and the local Magistrates Courts should work together to make the fines we ( as the Highway Authority) can levy against proven poor workmanship. Currently the maximum fine that Magistrates can impose is a mere £5000. This is peanuts to the utility companies and if County bother to take cases to court this size of fine is laughed at. So County rarely bother to go through the process and you and I pick up the bill. I shall, yet again, be requesting stronger action by all responsible bodies, to increase the ability of the courts to impose steeper fines and /or move a change in the law to enable highway authorities to levy repair costs against the utility company. I wonder if the Conservatives will support such a radical proposal??